A Ship Bound for India (Directors Suite)

When hunchbacked sailor Johannes Blum returns to his home port after seven years, he finds his former sweetheart, Sally, despondent.

Seven years earlier, Johannes had met the beautiful chorus girl aboard the salvage boat he lived on with his family. Having discovered that he was losing his sight, Johannes' abrasive, drunken father Alexander had brought his mistress to live with his long-suffering wife and son in their claustrophobic cabin. As the four strived to co-exist in the boat's fervid atmosphere, an unlikely love develops between Johannes and his father's mistress.

In A Ship Bound for India Bergman examines the inner turmoil that each of the inhabitants experience in their awkward situation—a theme he would return to again and again. First screened internationally at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival, A Ship Bound for India was awarded a special mention by the Jury.