Sven-Bertil Taube Movies
- 2000
Swedish director Richard Hobert rounds out his series on the seven deadly sins by inviting most of the main characters from his previous films for a big ol' birthday party. Amid the streamers, party favors, and animal balloons, failed rock star and circus performer Mikael (Goran Stangertz) celebrates his 50th birthday with his longtime girlfriend Calli (Camilla Lunden) and their two kids. Mikeal finally sums up the gumption to ask for Calli's hand in marriage. Unfortunately, she is falling in love with some one else. Meanwhile, Ingrid (Lena Endre) from Run for Your Life returns from a charity gig in Africa, half-blinded by a mosquito bite, while Erik (Jakob Eklund), from the same flick, is looking for his kids. A former divorce victim in Where the Rainbow Ends, Tove (Pernilla August) is now a successful businesswoman, while Ralf, of The Hands fame, remains a drunken scumbag. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Börje Ahlstedt, Pernilla August, (more)
- 1997
When his television set is impounded during the 1990 finals of international championship soccer, deeply indebted and aimless Johan's world comes crashing down. To make matters worse, a loan shark has sicced his thugs on the young deadbeat. But even though his life is in grave danger, Johan is such a rabid football fan that he is willing to risk everything just to catch a glimpse of those all important matches. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1996
With only two weeks to go before she turns the dreaded 30, Tin-Tin, a Swedish piano player hastily tries to achieve her two highest goals: to perform in the lounge of the Grand Hotel in Stockholm and to find a husband. Tin-Tin's endeavors provide the basis of this black Swedish comedy. She has a live-in lover, but Paul, who hosts the popular radio call-in show "Such Is Life," shows little interest in serious commitment, even though the subject of his series is how to make relationships work. Tin-Tin is also the object of her manager Stef's hottest fantasies. Olle, the owner of a large hotel has similar designs, though he is married. All of them are floored when she suddenly announces that she is marrying a Norwegian industrial tycoon in a tiny, picturesque northern town. That wedding is where the bulk of the film's most darkly humorous moments occurs. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1996
A group of messianic pilgrims abandon their native Sweden and emigrate to Palestine. This fact-based episodic Swedish drama looks at the events leading up to the trek and the immigrants' experiences after they arrive in the holy land. The story begins in Sweden and is introduced by the death of Big Ingmar, the leader of a small farming community. Shortly thereafter, his eldest daughter Karin sends Ingmar's namesake son to be raised by another family so she can control the family farm. Years pass and Ingmar grows up to fall in love with his beauteous "step-sister" Gertrud. But the romance never fully blooms, for Ingmar must leave to earn the money he needs to buy his father's farm back from Karin. About this time, the local village is plagued by a series of ominous disasters that begin with Karin's sudden paralysis. In the midst of the ensuing superstition and chaos, a charismatic, hellfire-and-brimstone preacher shows up, and some family members begin converting to his cause. Karin becomes a true follower when the preacher prays and she is "miraculously" healed. Ingmar eventually returns to find a very different village. With not enough money to buy the farm, he marries a wealthy young woman. Broken-hearted Gertrud immediately joins the preacher's cult and decides to follow him to Palestine to await Christ's Second Coming. Three months after she leaves, a recently divorced Ingmar arrives in Palestine to try to win her back. That is but one story line among many that transpire as the pilgrims struggle with survival in their strange new homeland. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maria Bonnevie, Ulf Friberg, (more)
- 1994
In this Swedish thriller, a man with "divine" abilities wreaks havoc upon the residents of a small island off the Swedish coast. Tomas is accepted into the tiny community after he demonstrates his talent for diving water or oil. Tomas is a con artist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Boman Oscarsson, Sven-Bertil Taube, (more)
- 1989
This musical comedy is taken from Torbjorn Egner's best-selling novel from 1955. Police Chief Bastian (Brasse Brannstrom) oversees the law and order of his town, an idyllic toyland. Aunt Sophie (Kjersti Dovidgan) is the local sourpuss who won't let her niece attend the annual festival celebration. A trio of benevolent robbers kidnap Aunt Sophie after they have tempting dreams of delicious food. The robbers are eventually rehabilitated and their pet lion finds a job in a circus. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brasse Brannstrom, Kjersti Dovigen, (more)
- 1989
Based on John Trenhaile's A Man Called Kyril, this byzantine-plotted spy melodrama stars Ian Charleson in the title role. Kyril is a supposed Soviet defector who relocates in London. In fact, his defection is a smoke-screen: Kyril has been sent by the KGB to seek out a British mole in Moscow Centre. At four hours, Codename: Kyril affords plenty of breathing space for the various plots and counterplots, but its excess of espionage verbiage may prove confusing to the average viewer. Filmed for British television in locales ranging from Norway to Holland, Codename: Kyril was first telecast in the US on the Showtime cable network on April 27, 1988; a videocassette version running 115 minutes was made available in 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1979
- R
In this drama, a black man fights for freedom from racial oppression in the troubled country of Rhodesia. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
John Sturges directed this taut adaptation of Jack Higgins' suspense novel about an attempted kidnapping of Winston Churchill by the German high command during World War II. When it is discovered that in November 1943 Winston Churchill is scheduled to spend a weekend in a country home in Norfolk, the Germans plan to kidnap him. Heinrich Himmler (Donald Pleasence), under orders from Hitler, assigns Nazi colonel Max Radl (Robert Duvall) the chore of sneaking the English-hating Irishman Liam Devlin (Donald Sutherland) into the British countryside and arranging for a 16-man task force to be parachuted into the English country town of Sudley Constable, under the auspices of Colonel Kurt Steiner (Michael Caine). The efficient planning works too well, and before long their exactingly perfect timetable begins to come apart. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, (more)
- 1975
Leo (Sven-Bertil Taube) is a screenwriter. He goes to Paris and gets an assignment: to change an already written screenplay into something appropriate for Scandinavian audiences and to develop a romantic liaison in the story between an astrological Leo and a Virgo. He travels to an island off the coast of Sweden and diligently sets out to change the screenplay. However, he is soon distracted by the arrival of his own "Virgo," the airplane stewardess he had ogled on his return flight. Chances for the script's timely revision look slender, but there is a happy ending. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sven-Bertil Taube, Agneta Eckemyr, (more)
- 1971
This detective thriller features one of the most exciting boat chases ever filmed, a scene that has been compared to the car chase in Bullitt. It is also notable for having much scenic footage of the Netherlands and of Amsterdam. In this film, the headquarters of a drug-smuggling cartel is the quarry of American narcotics agent Paul Sherman (Sven-Bartil Taube). Though the cartel's activities are centered in Amsterdam, Sherman's search for the headquarters leads to an island castle owned by an offbeat religious group. Sherman and his partner Maggie (Barbara Parkins) run into serious trouble when they try to gain access to the forbidding site. Paul escapes captivity and chases the culprits by boat. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sven-Bertil Taube, Barbara Parkins, (more)
The Buttercup Chain, based on Janice Elliot's novel, details the intense friendship among four people that turns tragic over the course of one summer. France (Hywel Bennett) and Margaret (Jane Asher) are first cousins, born of twin sisters on the same day. As children, they were brought up as brother and sister. The two possess such a strong platonic love for each other that they are incapable of loving anyone else. When Margaret travels to London to live with France, he picks out beautiful Swedish student Fred (Sven-Bertil Taube) to be Margaret's lover. For himself, he selects American girl Manny (Leigh Taylor-Young). As they spend their holidays traveling in Spain, the countryside of England, and Sweden, the foursome communicate with each other and try to discover the meaning of love. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hywel Bennett, Leigh Taylor-Young, (more)
- 1970
This romantic comedy finds a married couple whose sex life is not what it used to be. When the woman sees her husband referee a hockey game, she is stirred by his authoritarian demeanor. She sees him meeting with and kissing a strange woman which only adds to her renewed affections. She has an affair with her gynecologist who puts her in touch with her own heightened sexuality. The husband takes comfort in the arms of his mistress, using the guise of work to leave home. The married couple reunite with a new commitment and a revival of their sexual appreciation for each other. The title refers to the year the film was made. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sven-Bertil Taube, Jörn Donner, (more)
- 1969
This confusing film deals with the guilt, morality and near suicide of several people in the wake of the sexual revolution. A girl from Sweden arrives with two friends to meet an old French lover who is now married. The man's wife has an affair with a professor and tearfully confesses her sins to her husband. People pair off for sex in this plodding feature that has little redeeming cinematic value other than the production. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bulle Ogier, Thelma Ramstrom, (more)
- 1969
A female dress designer runs out on her boyfriend after the actor proves to be too forgetful and she feels she is no longer being respected. She is invited to dinner by an old flame who is now married, and her presence causes quite a scene. There are flashbacks, flashforwards and flashes of anger in this satirical commentary about the social elite. Nudity is used as a parody of the Swedish blue movies that have emanated from that country. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lone Hertz, Sven-Bertil Taube, (more)
- 1968
A violin student studying in Switzerland returns home to Sweden to visit his mother. During the summer vacation, his mother reveals the boy's late father fiddled around with more than the violin as the classical virtuoso engaged in numerous extramarital affairs. His sister is revealed to be only his half-sister as they both have different mothers. His sister longs to have sex and casts her lustful eyes towards her dear brother. He spends the night with three naked women who each take turns relating the sordid details of their first sexual experiences. Even Swedish censors had an initial reluctance to allow the film to be released because of the graphic content of sex and nudity. They finally relented, allowing those 15 and older to see the feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- 1967
In this grim drama, a man and woman go out for a drive on a dark winter's night and accidently run over a pedestrian. The two then squeal off into the darkness; as they drive, they try to come by an alibi for the death. The conversation begins to wander from topic to topic ranging from her sexual dysfunction, to the incautious victim. His increasing neurosis begins driving her crazy, so she leaves him at the first opportunity. He soon locates her and begs her to stay. They find a newspaper and read about the accident. Knowing that nothing will ever be the same, they resignedly drive home and as they get there, a police car pulls up beside them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sven-Bertil Taube, Helena Brodin, (more)
- 1967
A whimsical menage-a-trois forms the basis of this comedy drama that tells the tale of an eccentric aspiring writer who is tossed out by his girlfriend. A good friend of the forlorn fellow feels sorry for him and allows him to stay in his apartment. The friend's wife is less than enthused by the intrusion as the writer is truly odd. Eventually she comes to care for him and will not let him leave. Trouble ensues when the writer brings a boorish typing teacher to live with them. The two oddballs soon dominate the apartment. The poor husband and wife desperately want to get rid of the typist and so conspire to have the wife pretend to seduce the writer. Unfortunately, the seduction turns out to be quite real. While they make passionate love, the poor husband puts on his buddy's tee-shirt and goes to sleep in the guest room. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Agneta Ekmanner, Hakan Serner, (more)
