For a very serious story, this film has some of the funniest dialogue. But, much of that is delivered without even a smile on the actor's or actress' faces.
The actor playing Jons, the knight's squire, has been given some really funny lines.
Bergman did that so he could brighten the mood, this was the 1950's after all. I thought the humor was needed in this film.
Goth for LIFE!
In the US at least, the 1950s was the most optimistic decade of the last half of the 20th century. In the rest of the post-war world, that may not have been the case.
Bergman's humor constantly comes shining through a bleak story. Who would have thought he'd do such a total put-down of the acting profession in a film about medieval Europe? The squire's twice hissing like a snake (the first time, at his knight) to show his unhappiness looks childish, and out of character for a squire, but very endearing to the audience.
I agree, Jons had some wonderfully funny scenes. I particularly liked everything involving he & Plog.
I thought their tete-a-tete in the tavern on woman & love was simultaneously funny & thoughtful.
Also, Jons feeding Plog insults in the latter's verbal confrontation with Skat and the subsequent play-by-play of the reunion of Plog and Lisa were both pretty awesome.
What a wonderful movie! Every bit as excellent as its historical status suggests.
The humour really reminded me of Shakespeare and the entire film is like a Shakespeare tragedy.
Why problem make? When you no problem have, you don't want to make ...share
I very much agree with this view of similarities to Shakespeare. And I agree with others' comments that this use of comic relief in what is an otherwise very heavy film was more or less the norm for that era.
There is nothing wrong with the humor in and of itself, but personally I found it distracting from the deep questions being explored. It occurs to me that it would be interesting to watch a re-edited version that would somehow bypass the fluff without marring the overall presentation.
There's a fair amount of humor. One of the obvious examples would have to be the piece of pure black comedy when Death saws down the tree Jonas is in, as Jonas tries to negotiate his way out of it. It even ends with something like a pun: "Cancelled because of Death".
The bitter thinkers buy their tickets to go find God like a piggy in a fair
I'm surprised by the amount of humor there is in such a bleak film. The scene where death took Jonas by cutting the tree, for instance, is sheer comedy cold. And there were a few other parts where I found myself roaring with laughter, too.
Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime - Pupkin
I don't know why but I found this part really funny.
"Did he indicate the way [to the Inn]?
Not exactly.
What did he say?
Nothing.
Was he dumb?
No, one can't say that.
I'd say that he was
extremely well-spoken.
Yes, well-spoken. But the speech
he made was dour. I have to say."
I didn't catch that repartie!
All the variations on "say", speech, or giving information hit the viewer in short, quick dialogue show how talented Bergman was with language in his films.
Many great directors seemed to favor image over speech (Hitchcock) or the reverse (Sturges), but Bergman was talented enough to provide both.
E pluribus unum