Preben Kaas Movies

Director Lise Roos has placed this routine drama about the adventures and misadventures of a young woman somewhere between a documentary and a flat narration. The eighteen-year-old woman (Stine Sylverstersen) is active, lively, and also not above contradictions. She can dance with the best of them at a discotheque, hang out with friends, join protest marches, and either attack or defend her family depending on the situation. Her activities, sexual and otherwise, are typical of someone her age but in the long run, her experiences form more of a collection than a story. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Heavily influenced by the French stage sensation La Cage Aux Folles (which was filmed the very same year) this trite drag-queen comedy about a group of homosexuals sharing an apartment with a naive but straight country boy did not live up to expectations. The lead characters lead boring lives during the day and, as depicted here, downright pathetic existences at night, all decked out in peacock plumes and high heels and with nowhere to go. Several of the performances -- especially Fritz Helmuth as the love-starved, aptly named Bent -- manage to reach a little beyond the stereotypes, but Bodil Kjær, of all people, delivers a simply dreadful (and one-note) parody of a once-glamorous movie star. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Director Bent Christensen dusted off an ancient British stage play, hired star comedian Dirch Passer to do his usual noisy shtick, and released this lead balloon to an unsuspecting audience. The story is familiar: a group of travellers are forced to spend the night in a remote railroad station, but stories about a ghost train make the night less than restful. Arthur Ridley's original play was filmed three times before as Ghost Train, in 1927, 1931 and 1941. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

In this Danish comedy, Amalie (Marguerite Viby) is an old lady, but she's not dead yet. However, despite her best efforts, she can't convince the government of that fact. She and her best friend decide to pull off a number of criminal capers which should draw attention to the fact of her continued existence. Maddeningly, they get away with each one. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In the fifth instalment in the incredibly popular Danish caper series, gang members Benny (Morten Grunwald) and Keld (Poul Bundgaard) are attempting to go straight, so gang leader Egon (Ove Sprogøe) is forced to use crazy Dynamite Harry (Preben Kaas) in preparation for his newest caper. Everything goes wrong, of course, and soon the three comrades are back together once again planning how to become millionaires the easy way. One of the best entries in the series, Olsenbanden går Amok was the biggest box-office success in Denmark in 1973. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Unusual to say the least, Guld til Præriens Skrappe Drenge is, of all things, a Danish Western with songs. Filmed in and around a rock quarry some 20 miles south of Copenhagen, the film had three of the country's most popular comedians (Dirch Passer, Preben Kaas, and Paul Hagen) go though a silly Western plot dating back to the days of The Three Mesquiteers. Like its predecessor, Præriens Skrappe Drenge, this misfire was derisively termed a "potato Western." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

This Danish sex farce stars the ever-competent comedian Dirch Passer. In the film, he runs a special boarding school for women who want to marry rich men and be quick about it. Axel Stroebye appears as one of the school's instructors. The school's potential trouble through a policewoman's undercover investigations is prevented when she falls into bed with her "instructor." ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This was the second film in the long-lasting Danish caper-comedy series. The dapper little Egon Olsen (Ove Sprogøe) is, as always, released from prison but this time with the promise of going straight. Until, that is, a couple of American gangsters force the Olsen gang to come up with a plan. The three colleagues, Egon, Benny (Morten Grunwald), and Kjeld (Poul Bundgaard), along with Kjeld's ditzy wife Yvonne (Kirsten Walther), had not yet reached the top-tuned hilarity of later entries and are still encumbered by a series of supporting characters, who in retrospect seem only to get in the way of things. Supporting actor Preben Kaas, playing Benny's half-crazed brother, an expert in the illegal use of dynamite, earned a Danish "Academy Award" for his performance. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi