A Ship Bound for India (Skepp till Indialand) is a 1947 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman. It was originally released as A Ship to India in the United Kingdom and Frustration in the United States. The screenplay was written by Bergman, based on the play by Martin Söderhjelm.
The film was entered into the 1947 Cannes Film Festival
The film tells the story of the past of the character Johannes, and his relationships with his cruel father, his mother, and his father's mistress with whom Johannes falls in love.
The movie contains sequences of despair and anguish. Birger Malmsten, who plays the lead character Johannes and who will be seen in several later Bergman films, is immensely likable and compelling as the hunchback son who finally stands up to his despotic father.
The film is about the relationships within a family, a subject with which Bergman often dealt in later films, and uses other common devices of Bergman such as the hard father figure.
Cast
Birger Malmsten – Johannes Blom
Holger Löwenadler – Kapten Blom
Anna Lindahl – Alice Blom
Gertrud Fridh – Sally
Naemi Briese – Selma
Hjördis Petterson – Sofi (as Hjördis Pettersson)
Lasse Krantz – Hans
Jan Molander – Bertil
Erik Hell – Pekka
Åke Fridell – Variety hall owner
Douglas Håge – Customs officer (scenes deleted)
Ami Aaröe – Young girl at the beach (uncredited)
Torgny Anderberg – Man (uncredited)
Ingmar Bergman – Man wearing a beret at the funfair (uncredited)
Rolf Bergström – Blom's companion (uncredited)
Torsten Bergström – Blom's companion (uncredited)
John W. Björling – Older man (uncredited)
Ingrid Borthen – Girl on the street (uncredited)
Gustaf Hiort af Ornäs – Blom's companion (uncredited)
Svea Holst – Woman present at the arrest of Blom (uncredited)
Kiki – Dwarf (uncredited)
Uno Larsson – Older man with glasses and hat (uncredited)
Peter Lindgren – Foreign sailor (uncredited)
Gunnar Nielsen – Young man at the beach (uncredited)
Charles White – Black sailor (uncredited)
Garry Gillard | reviews | New: 12 December, 2018 | Now: 7 April, 2019