The Serpent's Egg (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Serpent's Egg is a 1977 United States / West German co-produced film (with English and German dialogue) directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring David Carradine as Abel Rosenberg, which is set in 1920s Berlin. This was Bergman's one and only Hollywood film. The title is taken from a line spoken by Brutus in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar:
And therefore think him as a serpent's egg
Which hatch'd, would, as his kind grow mischievous;
And kill him in the shell.
Plot
Abel Rosenberg is an American Jew in Berlin post-world war I. Poverty and inflation have destroyed the German economy. He lives with his sister-in-law Manuela, a prostitute and cabaret performer. The film takes place in the week following his brother's death. Abel takes a job offered by an acquaintance, Professor Hans Vergerus.
Full credits
- Original title: Ormens ägg/Das Schlangenei/The Serpent's Egg.
- Production: Rialto Film (Berlin), Dino De Laurentiis Corp. (Los Angeles).
- Distribution: Fox-Stockholm.
- Director: Ingmar Bergman.
- Producer: Dino De Laurentiis.
- Set construction: Rolf Wilhelm.
- Editor: Petra von Oelffen.
- Sound: Karsten Ulrich.
- Artistic direction: Erner Achmann.
- Costumes: Charlotte Flemming.
- Make-up and hairdressing: Raimund Stangl and others.
- World premiere: 28 October 1977.
- Duration: 119 minutes.
- Cast: Liv Ullmann (Manuela Rosenberg), David Carradine (Abel Rosenberg), Gert Fröbe (Inspector Bauer), Heinz Bennent (Hans Vergérus), James Whitmore (Priest), Glynn Turman (Monroe), Georg Hartmann (Hollinger), Edith Heerdegen (Mrs Holle), Kyra Mldeck (Miss Dorst), Fritz Straßner (Doctor Soltermann), Hans Quest (Doctor Silbermann), Wolfgang Weiser (Official), Paula Braend (Mrs. Hemse), Walter Schmidinger (Solomon), Lisi Mangold (Mikaela), Grischa Huber (Stella), Paul Bürks, Toni Berger (Mr. Rosenberg), Erna Brunell (Mrs. Rosenberg), Isolde Barth, Rosemarie Heinikel, Andrea L'Arronge, Beverly McNeely, Hans Eichler (Max), Kai Fischer, Harry Kalenberg, Gaby Dohm, Christian Berkel (Student), Paul Burian, Charles Regnier, Günter Meisner, Heide Picha, Günter Malzacher, Hubert Mittendorf, Hertha von Walther, Ellen Umlauf, Renate Grosser, Hildegard Busse, Richard Bohne, Emil Feist, Heino Hallhuber, Irene Steinbeisser.