Clara Pontoppidan Movies
- 1971
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
- 1966
Freddie (Morton Grunwald) is a salesman who inadvertently gets caught up in international intrigue in this spy spoof. When a Chinese official is kidnapped, the victim is placed in a trunk and put in the care of pretty female agent Diana (Hanne Borchsenius). Smith (Ove Sprogoe) is the agent called on to solve the crime or else his license-to-kill privileges will be revoked. Love blossoms between Freddie and Diana before he realizes she is up to her beautiful neck in the abduction plot. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Morten Grunwald, Ove Sprogøe, (more)
- 1922
This odd, amateurish fantasy picture was apparently the first and only cinematic endeavor of Ruth Bryan Owen, daughter of lawyer and politician William Jenning Bryan. Owen wrote the story, directed, and acted in it. The cast, according to trade paper Moving Picture World, consisted of members of the Community Players of Coconut Grove, FL. The story involves a legend of "old India," in which the Shah of an Eastern province is dethroned by a corrupt subordinate. As the new ruler, his favored pastime is to put young girls to death when they cease to entertain him. The most beautiful girl of the land manages to elude him until the very end, when the Shah -- who everyone thought to be dead -- returns. He rescues the girl and all is well. Owen went onto a much more successful political career, first serving as a U.S. Representative from Florida, and then as Minister to Denmark. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
Danish filmmaker Benjamin Christensen's obsession with bizarre lighting effects reached its apotheosis with his 1922 masterpiece Häxan. Beginning in a deceptively sedate fashion with a series of woodcuts and engravings (a technique later adopted by RKO producer Val Lewton), the film then shifts into gear with a progression of dramatic vignettes, illustrating the awesome power of witchcraft in the Middle Ages. So powerful are some of these images that even some modern viewers will avert their eyes from the screen. Though obviously a work of pure imagination, the film occasionally takes on the dimensions of a documentary, a byproduct of the extensive research done by Christensen before embarking on the project (incidentally, the director himself can be seen in the film in a dual role as Satan and the Doctor). Häxan marked a parting of the ways for Christensen and the Danish film industry; thereafter, he confined his activities to the German cinema, before answering Hollywood's call in 1928. A separate version of this film exists, with a shorter running time, retitled Witchcraft Through the Ages and released in 1968. It features narration by the legendary Beat writer William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch) and a score by Jean-Luc Ponty. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Benjamin Christensen, Clara Pontoppidan, (more)
The Danish Leaves From Satan's Book (Blad af Satans Bog) was the "breakthrough" picture for filmmaker Carl Thedor Dreyer, who was elevated from a local talent to a director of international renown. The content of the film is implicit in the title: we are witness to the power of Evil through the ages, linked together by images of turning pages. In its multi-storied construction, the film is obviously beholden to D.W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916). Some of the vignettes, especially the Spanish Inquisition scenes, are both beautiful and repulsive; we marvel at Dreyer's brilliant visual sense, even as we have the impulse to avert our eyes. Though a worldwide success, Leaves From Satan's Book cost too much to suit the tastes of the parsimonious Danish film industry, compelling Dreyer to work in other countries throughout most of the silent era. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1913
Within the Gates was the English-language title of the 1913 Victor Sjostrom-directed drama Miraklet. The reviewer for the trade magazine Variety, who didn't know from Sjostrom, suggested that the film was of "German" or "Danish" origin (well, at least he was in the right hemisphere). The "heavy" of the piece is a lecherous priest who, despite his vows, falls in love with his best friend's sweetheart. Hoping to eliminate the competition, the priest persuades his friend's father to order the boy to enter the priesthood himself. The boy obeys his father, whereupon the girl falls suddenly ill. She is taken to a Lourdes-like "sacred spring," where it is hoped that she will miraculously regain her health. Conducting religious services at the spring is the girl's former lover, now a full priest. At the sight of her ex-boyfriend, the girl instantly recovers -- and it is left to the audience to determine whether or not a miracle has indeed occurred. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1912
The man-hungry "vampire," later to be popularized by America's Theda Bara, made her screen debut in this Danish melodrama directed by August Blom. Clara Wieth starred in the title role of the Vampire Dancer, which is just what she was: a dancer performing her seductions on-stage. Off-stage, the young girl is kindhearted and a bit naïve. The lustful dance, during which Robert Dinesen succumbs to the dancer's fatal charms, remained the centerpiece of the film, which was a popular success and made Wieth an international star. Later, as Clara Pontoppidan, she became one of Danish theater's leading tragediennes, working well into her eighties. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi
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