A chess match with death

Ultimately, by the time the Knight "shuffles off this mortal coil" (when critiquing art house films, references to Shakespeare are strongly encouraged--it's in all the handbooks), he has come to represent the cerebral modem individual. That is, he frequently is disillusioned--with a God whose communication skills seem to need polishing as well as a sorry populous that never would be comfortable in a Frank Capra film. Yet, despite all this (warning: sentimentality ahead), Bergman still manages to close with hope. The Knight embraces a Dance of Death to save a young family--and that, as they say, makes all the difference.

Wes D. Gehring, Associate Mass Media Editor of USA Today, is professor of film, Ball State University, Muncie, Ind., and author of several books. His latest is Film Classics Reclassified: A Shocking Spoof of Cinema.

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