Cinema of Denmark
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Danish cinema pioneer Peter Elfelt, a photographer, was the first Dane to make a film. Between the years of 1896 and 1912, he produced around 200 documentary films on life in Denmark. His first film was Kørsel med grønlandske Hunde (Travel with Greenlandic Dogs). Furthermore, he produced the first feature film: Henrettelsen (The Execution, 1903). The first film show in Denmark took place in the Panorama cinema on the Town Hall square in Copenhagen, in June 1896. However, the selection of films were made and produced abroad.
The Golden Age
In 1906, cinema owner Ole Olsen founded the first Danish film-making company, Nordisk Films Kompagni. It gained most of its income from the export market of short films. Not until 1909 were other film-producing companies established. In 1910 the number had reached ten. This is now known as the Golden Age of Danish Cinema. In the spring of 1910 Nordisk Films Kompagni changed its policy of producing short films and began making feature films. This policy change was largely inspired by the Århus Fotorama company's Den hvide Slavehandel (The White Slave Trade, 1910), which was the first multi-reel Danish film lasting more than 30 minutes.With the increasing length of films there was a growing artistic awareness, which is evident in Afgrunden (The Abyss, 1910). This film launched the career of Asta Nielsen, who soon became Europe's first great female film star. The film was an erotic melodrama, which soon became the preferred genre in early Danish Cinema. In 1911 Nordisk Film was the first of the major European companies to devote itself entirely to full-length feature films, which could then be sold abroad. It was the technical and photographic quality that impressed audiences. Yet, when exporting the films, the erotic element of the films needed to be toned down in order not to offend the working class audiences. The dominant audience at the time was the middle class.
After 1913 Danish cinema began to lose its leading foothold in the film industry, with foreign companies intensified competition in producing feature length films. Another reason was probably the unimaginativeness and the lacking courage of Danish producers. Independent Benjamin Christensen had great success with the spy film Det hemmelighedsfulde X (The Mysterious X or Sealed Orders, 1914) and the crime drama Hævnens Nat (Blind Justice or The Night of Revenge, 1916), both of which are major works in the history of the Danish cinema..
1920s to 1940s
During World War I, the USA became the leading nation in film production and Danish exports decreased. In the years following the war, Dreyer made an appearance as director at the film company Nordisk Film with the drama Præsidenten (The President, 1919), followed by the ambitious Blade af Satans Bog (Leaves from Satan's Book, 1921), inspired by the American director D.W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916) in both technique and theme. However Dreyer as well as Benjamin Christensen were not permanently connected to the influential Danish film industries and remained loners. As a whole Danish film of the 1920s were on decline in spite of better technical skills. Of most interest were perhaps the so-called Dickens movies directed by the very able A. W. Sandberg. At one point Denmark enjoyed some international reputation - by the many farces of the vagabond duo “Fyrtaarnet og Bivognen” (often known by their French names “Doublepat and Patachon”) who were Scandinavian predecessors of Laurel and Hardy. They were introduced by “Palladium”, the rival of Nordisk Film. But at the end of the decade Danish film industry was at its heels.In 1929, Nordisk Film Kompagni was established as a sound film company. The Pastor of Vejlby (1931) reinforced the Nordisk's dominance in the Danish market. The 1930s were dominated by many light comedies successes. The Depression and the economic conditions of the film companies prevented more serious film business and besides the victory of the sound movie automatically set further limits of the international possibilities of Danish film. Many popular stars like Marguerite Viby, Ib Schønberg and Peter Malberg had a break-through and it was a golden time of cinemas but in spite of many economic successes no further development of the media was seen.
Between 1940 and 1945, the German occupation of Denmark during World War II, provided favourable conditions to start producing more serious art films. Bodil Ipsen with Black Tie (1942) and Melody of Murder (1944) produced a romantic comedy and a psychological thriller of international standard. As a whole a more sinister tone was heard in these years and several parallels of the American film noir (also some years after 1945) can be found. Even the standard of the comedy was lifted, especially by the witty, well-performed and elegant movies directed by the ambitious Johan Jacobsen, a Danish pupil of Ernst Lubitsch. The first years after the war still meant a rising standard and first of all a more social realist line maintained by directors as the married couple Henning-Jensen and the sharp, critical and almost cynical films by Ole Palsbo. But after some years the pre-war conditions reappeared: sentimental comedies, and uncomplicated regionalist movies.
Since the 1950s
"Du er ikke alene" (You Are Not Alone) (1978) Directed by Ernst Johansen and Lasse Nielsen
See also
Sources
- [Steele Review]
- Marguerite Engberg: Dansk stumfilm. De store år, vol. 1-2. Copenh. 1977 (summary in English)
- [70mm.dk - About 70mm cinemas in Denmark]
- [biografmuseet.dk - About all Danish cinemas]
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