Denmark

 Denmark

In Denmark, Ole Olsen’s Nordisk films
1)continued to dominate production,
2) though a small number of other firms operated during the 1910s. From 1913 to 1914,
3)Nordisk and other companies were moving toward longer films of two, three, even four
    reels.
4)One historian has summarized the typical style of Nordisk’s films:

 “The lighting effects, the stories, the realism of interior settings, the extraordinary use of natural and urban locations, the intensity of the naturalistic acting style, the emphasis on fate and the passions.”

August Blom
1) The work of August Blom,
2) Nordisk’s top director of the early teens, typifies this style.
3)His most important film was Atlantis (1913),
4)at eight reels the longest Danish film to date.
5)The film offered a fairly conventional psychological melodrama,
   but it dwelt on beautifully designed sets and spectacular scenes,
6)such as the sinking of an ocean liner (inspired by the Titanic disaster of 1912).
7)Atlantis was triumphantly successful abroad. 

The following scene features a performance from Arthur Stross, "The Man Without Arms."

Atlantis (August Blom, 1913)

Forest Holger-Madsen

1)Another Nordisk director, Forest Holger-Madsen,
   made an outstanding film, Life of an Evangelist (1914).
2)The narrative involves a frame story and lengthy flashback,
3)as a preacher tells a young man about his time in prison as a result of being wrongfully
   convicted of murder.
4)His tale saves the young man from a life of crime. 

5)The preacher’s dark, grim room, in which he relates his story, exemplifies the use of
   setting to create mood.
6)An elaborate, realistic model of a cityscape, combined with strong backlighting,
   makes this scene in Life of an Evangelist unusual for its period.

Life of an Evangelist (Forest Holger-Madsen, 1914)

Benjamin Christensen

1)One of the most daring and eccentric directors of the silent cinema also began working
   in the Danish Page industry.
2)Benjamin Christensen started as an actor at the small Dansk Biografkompagni in 1911
   and soon became president of the firm.
3)His impressive debut as a director was The Mysterious X (1913), in which he also
   starred.
4)It was a melodramatic story of spies and treason, shot in a bold visual style.
5)Stark sidelighting and backlighting created silhouette effects;
6)few films of this period contain such striking compositions. 

7)Christensen went on to make an equally virtuoso drama, Night of Revenge (1916).

Gap of 4 years

1)Christensen did not complete another film until the 1920s,
    when his Witchcraft through the Ages (1922) was financed by Svensk Filmindustri.
2)It was a bizarre, episodic quasi-documentary tracing the history of witchcraft.
3)After encountering censorship difficulties, Christensen moved into more conventional
   filmmaking,
4)directing dramas and thrillers in Germany and Hollywood during the 1920s.

Witchcraft through the Ages (Benjamin Christensen, 1922)

Intertitle:

"Oh, yes, learned men, miserable me has flown through the night air to Brocken
on Trina's broom."

Intertitle:

"And there sat the devil's grandmother with all her witchcraft."

"And there, many a witch who had not accomplished enough evil deeds
was treated miserably by the devil."

"And there they spat on Mass and upon all that is holy."
"And a meal of toads and unchristen children was cooked by Karna

Listen, Maria the Weaver, did you also see the devil put his mark on 
the witches foreheads?

"Oh, I learned men, I saw the witches kiss the evil one on his behind."

Monks Laughing except one.

Denmark and WWI

1)World War I had a mixed effect on the Danish cinema.
2)Initially Denmark benefited, since, as a neutral northern country,
   it was in a unique position to furnish films to markets like Germany and Russia,
   which were cut off from their normal suppliers.
3)In 1917, the Russian Revolution eliminated that market,
4)and the United States cut back on its imports from Denmark.
5)During the 1910s, many top Danish directors and actors were also lured away,
   mainly to Germany and Sweden.
6)By the war’s end, Denmark was no longer a significant force in international distribution.