Martha (1967)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Erik Balling

Writers:

Henning Bahs (writer)
Erik Balling (writer)

Release Date:

10 October 1967 (Denmark)

Genre:

Comedy | Family

Plot:

A great cult comedy that was probably ahead of its time. A beloved movie among danish sailors. Martha is a very old and very rusty freight steamer...

Plot Keywords:

Ship | Cult Favorite | Sea | Merchant Marine

Cast

Ove Sprogøe	...	Hovmester Watson
Morten Grunwald	...	Knud Hansen
Poul Reichhardt	...	Maskinmester Bråst
Poul Bundgaard	...	Alf
Karl Stegger	...	Kaptajn Peter Nielsen
Preben Kaas	...	Kokken
Helge Kjærulff-Schmidt	...	Skibsreder O.P. Andersen
Lily Weiding	...	Frk. Bruun
Hanne Borchsenius	...	Lone Andersen
Eleni Anousaki	...	Laura
Henrik Wiehe	...	Styrmanden
Birger Jensen	...	Halfdan
Paul Hagen	...	Radiotelegrafist Marius Knudsen
Bjørn Puggaard-Müller	...	Johansen
Gunnar Bigum	...	Regnskabschef

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

Denmark

Language:

Danish

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Nordisk Film

The ultimate maritime cult film

Why sailors hate stokers? Watch this film and come out a lot wiser.

What makes a man great? A secretary with a long list of "friendships" behind her (sheiks, scout leaders, gardeners even a rear admiral). Behind every great man there is......

Everybody in the Danish maritime society know this film - some even know the dialogue by heart.

It hits the mark brilliantly and to correct the former commentator; the actors were not acting drunk - they were completely s...faced during the shooting of the party scene. The proud owner of the ship Mr. O. P. Andersen is a polite parody of the founder of Maersk Line Mr. A. P. Moeller. Especially the scene where the unfortunate crew is forced to eat porridge for breakfast is a loving comment to the food on board Mr. Moeller's ships.

The film is a treasure when it comes to the little details in life on board a real steamship, where the difference in attitude between deckhands and grease monkeys makes for some real gems.

Martha is even an integral part of any Danish naval ship's battle equipment - damn the torpedoes; Martha's on the video!!

Just to give an idea of how important the film is among the Danish seagoing society the owners of a bar i Svendborg - a town with proud maritime traditions - have made it a tradition to show Martha (original copy - no video here) to all the students from the different maritime schools in the area at a local cinema once a year. In order to give just the right feeling, the stokers sit to port and the sailors take up the starboard side of the cinema - in the middle you'll find the beer, because as the Mr. Watson so rightly utters: "You don't want us to starve?"

In short, they don't make 'em like that anymore.