In terms of illustrating the filmmaking process, the first version of Vargtimmen continues where Persona left off, featuring a prologue and an epilogue in which Bergman instructs the cast and crew on the set. In the prologue, approximately nine minutes long, Bergman sits on a bed and explains the origins of the film to leading actors Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow and shows them pictures of the two people they are to portray. We also see cast and crew preparing for the shooting of the opening sequence of the film, with Bergman looking through the viewfinder and telling Liv Ullmann where to stand and how to position herself. The credits then follow with the noise of the studio on the soundtrack before the actual film begins. In the released version of the film, this prologue is substituted by three silent explanatory titles and then the credits, with the noise from the studio still on the soundtrack, begin.
The different versions of the opening of Vargtimmen are only very briefly mentioned in the vast literature on Bergman, and always in relation to an interview made in January 1968, in which Bergman explains that he chose to delete these sequences because they distanced the viewer from the actual film. In the epilogue, running just a minute-and-a-half, we hear Bergman thanking everyone for a good day’s work and gradually the set empties until everyone has left.
Jon Wengström – Svenska Filminstitutet