Cinema
The Missing Clerk
Den forsvundne fuldmægtig
Gert Fredholm · 1971
Synopsis
Teodor Amsted is a civil servant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, punctual, well regarded, married and a father, and something weighs on him. When a former schoolmate blows himself up with dynamite on the heath of Amager, he seizes the opportunity: he makes people believe in his own death and disappears. While the police follow the trail of a murder, he settles under a false name, with a large lottery prize in his pocket, in the hills of Tibirke, where the locals look unfavourably on Copenhageners.
Context
The film adapts the novel that Hans Scherfig published in 1938 and moves its action to the time of the shoot. The screenplay is by Erik Thygesen, and the author of the book himself appears in it as narrator. Shot on images by Henning Kristiansen, with Ove Sprogøe as Amsted, Bodil Kjer, Karl Stegger and Poul Thomsen, it was released on 29 October 1971. It is its director's first feature film, and the public made it a great success.
Who it is for
One hour forty, in Danish. A satirical comedy that takes its time, carried by its lead performer.
Prizes and reception
Bodil for best Danish film and for best actor for Ove Sprogøe; presented at the Berlin festival in 1972.
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