Dear All
Lots of people do acting, few do great
acting. One of the acting greats is Max Von Sydow, his list of movie credits is
long and distinguished, from his big breakthrough movie of the Seventh Seal in
1956 to The Quiller Memorandum 1966, then others such as The Exorcist, Conan
the Barbarian, Flash Gordon, Escape to Victory, Judge Dredd, whatever part he
played, he shone and commanded gravitas. He also appeared in popular TV shows
including Game of Thrones and Nuremberg, the trial of Nazis war crimes.
It is sad that such a talented man as Max
Von Sydow has passed away at the age of 90 years old. Born in Sweden, he had a
successful run of 11 films with Ingmar Bergman where his acting skills were
honed. Always a professional, he was truly a legend of the screen. His family
announced "with a broken heart and infinite sadness" that the
Swedish-born actor died on Sunday.
One role which you could also say he made
an impression was playing Ming the Merciless in 1980's Flash Gordon; the movie
was rather cheesy but Max Von Sydow along with a great soundtrack by Queen made
the movie worth watching. The cast also included Topol and Mariangela Melato,
the actress had the ‘Lady Gaga look’ long before Lady Gaga was even born. Another
film of the B movie variety he played in was Escape to Victory, a story of a
mass escape during a Germany VS the Allies football game. The movie was a
vehicle for Sly Stallone who played a brooding James Dean type who wanted to
get over the wire. It was a film Sydow helped elevate by his presence given
most of the cast weren’t actors but former professional footballers. The movie
also starred Michael Caine and Pele who did a fantastic recreation of how to
score a goal.
If there is one movie you have to watch,
then it must The Seventh Seal made in 1956,
This is one of the movies made in the 1950’s
which was iconic and able to stand the test of time, another movie from 1954
which also stand the test is the classic Seven Samuari made just 3 years
earlier by the legendary akira kurosawa. This shows that although people think
of Hollywood as the be all and end all of cinema, both Sweden and Japan were
producing classics in the post war period.
Director Edgar Wright led the tributes
on Twitter, writing:
"Max Von Sydow, such an iconic
presence in cinema for seven decades, it seemed like he'd always be with us. He
changed the face of international film with Bergman, played Christ, fought the
devil, pressed the HOT HAIL button and was Oscar nominated for a silent
performance. A god."
Film critic Guy Lodge said;
“Max Von Sydow was "an actor who
could bring great gravity to weightless junk, and quick, unpredictable humanity
to, well, very grave films".
And Max did play in some really weightless
junk, like the B movies The Ultimate Warrior and Soloman Kane, but his scenes
were good, even in advancing years, he never lost his gravitas on the silver
screen.
Finally, in a world which seems to be
losing morality and gravitas, we could all do with watching more actors with
the dignity, humanity and gravitas of Max Von Sydow.
When you watch him in Flash Gordon, his
performance is equal too and if not better than the original Ming in the Buster
Crabbe, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
1 comment:
Superb actor in whatever role he took. I liked him in Conan as well as Flash Gordon. Reminds me of Christopher Lee in that he put maximum effort into whatever role he played. Many other actors should look to his dignified behaviour.
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