Løvejagten

Infobox Film
name = Løvejagten


image_size = 250px
caption = Photo Still from the 1907 Film
director = Viggo Larsen
producer = Ole Olsen
writer = Armold Richard Nielsen| narrator =
starring = Viggo Larsen
Knud Lumbye
music =
cinematography = Axel Graatkjaer
editing =
distributor = Nordisk Film
released = 1907
runtime = 20 mins
country = DEN
language = Silent Film
Danish intertitles
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0000602

"Løvejagten" (Danish for "lion hunting", English title: "The Lion Hunt") was a scandalous 1907 silent film by Danish producer Ole Olsen and director Viggo Larsen. The short 20-minute movie caused an enormous public protest in Denmark because it depicted the actual shooting of two captive lions.

ynopsis

Two big game hunters are on safari in the jungle with their African guide. They observe zebras, ostrich and a hippopotamus, and catch a small monkey for a pet. During the night they are awakened by a lion which kills a small goat and then the hunters' horse. The hunters shoot the lion as it stands by the water on a beach. They discover another lion and shoot it also. The lions are gutted and skinned. The happy hunters sit and smoke cigarettes afterward.

Controversy

The twenty-minute "jungle" movie was actually filmed on the small island of Elleore in the Roskilde fjord of Denmark.Larsen, Lisbeth Richter, "World Record Nordisk Film Centenary", Film #50, May 2006, retrieved=2008-06-22] In the summer of 1907, Ole Olsen decorated Elleore with palm fronds and artificial plants to simulate a tropical savanna. He then bought two elderly lions from the Hagenbech Zoo in Hamburg Germany for the large sum of 5000 deutschmarks.When the Danish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals learned about Olsen's plan, they protested to the Danish Minister of Justice Peter Adler Alberti.cite web
title = When Nordisk Film killed Lions
publisher = Nordisk Film Kompagni Press
url = http://www.nordiskfilm.com/Press/Anecdotes/When+Nordisk+Film+killed+lions.htm
accessdate=2008-06-22] Alberti banned the filming. Two days later, however, Olsen defiantly shot the scenes as planned, then smuggled the film to Sweden. Olsen's cinematographer, Axel Graatkjær, was arrested and spent a day in jail. At a court hearing, Alberti banned the movie in Denmark and revoked Olsen's license for his Biograf Theater.cite web
title = Kommentar om Løvejagten
publisher = Det Danske Film Institute
accessdate = 2008-06-22
url = http://dnfx.dfi.dk/pls/dnf/pwt.page_setup?p_pagename=dnffuldvis&p_parmlist=filmid=12547]

Aftermath

In 1907, Olsen premiered "The Lion Hunt" in Sweden. Because of the publicity from the protests, "Løvejagten" was a huge success abroad. The following year, after the charges of animal cruelty were dropped and the Danish ban was rescinded, the film had its homeland premiere on November 11 1908. Nordisk Film Kompagni eventually sold 259 prints of "Løvejagten", which earned the company an enormous profit. It ushered in the "golden age" of Danish cinema when Nordisk Film became the most productive film company in Europe.A sequel to the film, "Bear Hunting in Russia", was shot in 1909 and was also a profitable movie, eventually selling 118 prints.

Cast and Crew

References

External Links

* [http://dnfx.dfi.dk/pls/dnf/pwt.page_setup?p_pagename=dnffuldvis&p_parmlist=filmid=12547 The Danish Film Institute]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000602/ IMDb]
* [http://www.nordiskfilm.com/Press/Anecdotes/When+Nordisk+Film+killed+lions.htm Nordisk Film Kompagni]