Danmarksfilmen (1935) User Reviews

Interesting film of danish history

[Htapohcysp · 8/10 · 17 March 2007]

This movie was made in 1935 to show Denmark and danish society to the world in general.How Danes lived & worked at the time of this film is documented in pictures. The intention was to capture the everyday situations in Denmark and as such it presents a very interesting view of Denmark, as seen by Poul Henningsen. The viewer is taken on several "tours" through the danish agricultural production, following the milk and swine through the countryside to the dairy and the butchery, ending with danish butter and pork-sides being shipped out for export. Also the growing industrialization of Denmark is shown, with cement-factories as a prime example.

This movie no doubt show how Denmark saw it self in 1935, but it is definitely an interesting historic document.

Great jazz soundtrack too

[cowgoesmoo · 10/10 · 22 March 2008]

I was visiting Copenhagen recently and stopped into the Nationalmuseet (National Museum). There was an exhibit with Danmarksfilmen playing on a continuous loop and I was so transfixed that I had to watch it twice. An earlier reviewer mentioned the documentary style of how Denmark saw itself before the Second World War but did not discuss how the whole film is propelled by the soundtrack - some of the best, bouncy jazz from the 1930s I've ever heard. Perhaps that was the fascination for me - the mixture of great jazz set against mostly agricultural scenes of a long-gone Denmark. You wouldn't think it would work but it does. I was disappointed that the museum gift shop did not have either a DVD of the movie or a CD of the soundtrack. The nearby Danish Film Institute had a copy for sale and I regret not buying it because I can't find it in the US.