I guess I just don't have an eye for his movies. I watched because I am a Bergman fan. I did not like it at all. Who would put up with Stromboli, even post WWII! I would have started swimming for the mainland the moment Antonio hit me. I tried hard to like this one but I just could not find a reason to do so. In my opinion this film was a snore-fest.I checked IMDb feeling pretty certain other reviewers would feel the same. I was certainly surprised that I was the only one who disliked the film. Oh well; like I said I just must not appreciate his movies. I still like Ingrid however!

I had heard mixed reviews of this and, being a die-hard Ingrid Bergman fan for years, I wanted to see everything of hers I could get my hands on. Directed by husband Roberto Rossellini, this film has Ingrid Bergman getting married to an Italian, of whom at first she turned down, but at last relented, when authorities questioned her as to how she came into Italy. During the German occupation of Yugoslavia, her husband was killed in the war and she made her way there somehow, but now she must leave. So she's off to the Italian's home island of Stromboli, which is the locale of an active volcano. Immediately, she is restless and very unhappy, despite the fact her husband is very nice looking and some women would give anything to be on an island with him. But that they might say is neither here nor there. She tries finally to change her perspective and pretty up the place and make herself more pretty with makeup and have a more positive outlook on life, as she had felt stifled and depressed on this small, lifeless remote island. But the local married women look down on women who wear cake on their faces, and call her immodest to her face. She keeps asking what she's done that is really wrong. She put away the pictures of old people that her husband had up, because they were depressing and painted a design on the walls to spice up the place, but when she is seen talking and smiling with another man by the locals and talk ensues, her husband slaps her around and says enough is enough. The place goes back the way it was. The ultimate denouement of the film is, will she leave her husband to be free of the restrictive life she has there or will she find peace? I couldn't tell you, as the ending is ambiguous. She is last seen trying to leave by way of the volcano, but is overcome by the smoke. She prays to be saved. But what does she mean? What is implied? Some ambiguous endings work, but in this case, I didn't feel it did. Throughout the film, I was entertained by the film but aware of its flaws. I felt like it was a poor man's version of "The Old Man and the Sea," as we are shown the life of her husband and his kin's way of life as fishermen. The fishing footage was very interesting to watch despite the fact Ingrid wasn't moved by being part of his life. She really made herself miserable. It's all in how you look at it. She may have wished for more and a better place in the world. But does she really belong to him and this world now? Should she reconcile herself to this? I am the type of person that loves films that show a lot of the ocean, so that plus Ingrid Bergman made this worth watching. But that ambiguous ending was a little disappointing to me. I would have preferred one ending or the other. Or, maybe she dies? But I don't think so. All in all, I think a Bergman and/or Rossellini fan would enjoy this film, flaws and all. But Ingrid Bergman is beautiful as usual. Sit back with Ingrid by the sea in Stromboli!

Or L'AVVENTURA AVANT LA LETTRE, which actually encapsulates the situation of STROMBOLI. Although the recent death of Michelangelo Antonioni brought about many commentators who discussed the revolutionary effect of the first screenings of L'AVVENTURA (Martin Scorsese wrote such a piece which appeared in The New York Times of August 12, 2007), this was a far cry from the disastrous reception that STROMBOLI had in its original release. Of course, part of the problem was the extra-filmic situation, the "scandale" of the Bergman-Rossellini relationship.But all that's in the past. STROMBOLI must be seen as the revolutionary work that it is. In the past (and this continues today), the film was castigated for its meandering plotlessness, for its seeming aimlessness. These are, in fact, aspects of the film, because the film is not "about" the passions of a woman (though this was how the movie was advertised on its initial release), but about lassitude. In effect, STROMBOLI was the first filmic expression of alienation, literally in the plot device of having Karin (played by Bergman) a displaced person, and metaphorically in scenes such as the one in which Karin is walking through the town and hears voices - she knows that they're talking about her, but she can't understand what they're saying. (The villagers speak in their Sicilian dialect, and Karin speaks in English; there is the scene where Karin redecorates the house, and the women come to stare, but when she invites them to come in, they just stare and skulk away.)There are so many problems with seeing this film: it was cut and reedited and a voice-over narration was added for its initial American release; the Italian archival version is dubbed all into Italian. The actual version is a multi-lingual (English, Italian, Sicilian dialect) version which runs 107 minutes, with no narrator. In this version, the documentary aspects are fully integrated into the film.STROMBOLI deserves to be seen in its full version, and deserves to be seen as the precursor of movies such as L'AVVENTURA, Resnais's Hiroshima MON AMOUR and Godard's UNE FEMME MARIEE.

Having spent a recent holiday on the Aeolian Islands this was a film I was very eager to see. I wasn't disappointed as I thought it was great. The film looks a little dated now though but in the early fifties would have been very good. If this film was made today there is no doubt today's special effects would certainly enhance the volcanic eruption scenes no end. The Tuna fishing scene was also very interesting but not for those of a squeamish disposition. The acting was first rate from both Ingrid Bergman and Mario Vitale. I was particularly interested in seeing this film after seeing the house on the island where Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman had stayed whilst this film was being made. A plaque on the property bears witness to this. All in all a very good film that I would recommend to anyone.