Film of the Week: The Seventh Seal (1957)

Upon its release in 1957 in the art house film circuit, Ingmar Bergman's classic The Seventh Seal was hailed as one of the most artistically inspired films of all time, and so it remains today. The Seventh Seal tells the story of a knight from the crusades who plays a game of chess with death as he attempts to find life's meaning. While mainstream America strayed away from this Swedish film, those viewers who would find their way into art house theaters flocked to go this classic. Perhaps the term "art house cinema" may require some explanation. Art house films are films that are particularly artistically interesting, and can often be quite strange. Usually ignored by mainstream audiences, art house films are by definition released in an art museum's theater, or specialty artistic theater.