Contrary to the millionaires and aristocrats always present in Danish film, here the hero is a dropout who cheats convention.  This is not dissimilar to the character of Boudu who is enamoured with lazing around, adapted by Jean Renoir (1894-1979) in 1932. By sticking up for this likeable crafty old devil the film seems to subtly contest the bourgeois world founded on possession and productivity.

In Denmark, comedy found its place alongside other genres as the Danish people’s fascination for Doublepatte and Patachon in the 1920s shows. The two famous comedians launched by Danish actor Lau Lauritzen (1878-1938) and considered as the forerunners of Laurel and Hardy. Like our tramp here, the miserable appearance of these internationally successful characters reflects the reality of the lower classes hit by the Great Depression that followed the First World War.

The second largest of all business corporations of the Danish economy, the Nordisk Films Kompagni founded by Ole Olsen (1863–1943) imposed itself on the world market from 1906. Its extraordinary growth lead to a number of production companies being created during 1912-1913. These new companies attempted to compete with Nordisk but it was in vain as most of them went bankrupt a few months after being set up.  The Dania Biofilm Kompagni that produced the film is a striking example of this:  the year the film was made was also that of its condemnation since it coincided with the company’s likely voluntary liquidation.

Acquired by the Det Danske Filminstitut in 2006 this film, which up until then was unable to be viewed came from a private collection.  Today, back in the spotlight it was screened in 2009 for the first time at Copenhagen’s film archives.

The original music for this film was composed by Rémi Boubal in 2010 in the context of the call for proposals launched in partnership with the Sacem (Société des auteurs compositeurs et éditeurs de musique – Society of authors, composers and music editors).

More infos on the discovery of Den Dovnes Himmerige

"The print comes from a private film collection that the Danish Film Institute received in 2006. What is interesting about this film is that there is no indication that the film ever premiered in any cinemas in Denmark or elsewhere in Europe. In fact there is very little information about the film at all. We have established that the main character is played by Viking Ringheim and the head doctor is played by Fritz Frederik Nielsen. But other than that information is deficient.
The film got its censor-classification in 1918 but never got the official screening. What we think happened was that the company that produced the film Dania Biofilm Kompagni went bankrupt in 1918 and that probably ment that all assets were frozen so the film couldn’t get it’s proper cinema release. So we actually had a premiere screening of the film in 2009 at The Cinematheque in Copenhagen. Hope you’ll enjoy this newest addition to Danish Silent Film History."

Mikael Braae
Film archivist at The Danish Film Institute