De er Splittergale / [They Are Completely Crazy]

Lau Lauritzen: De er Splittergale [They Are Completely Crazy] (DK 1919). With Agnes Andersen, Frederik Buch, Rasmus Christiansen. Credit: Det Danske Filminstitut, København

[Sono completamente folli] (DK 1919) regia/dir: Lau Lauritzen Sr. scen: Valdemar Hansen. photog: Hugo J. Fischer. cast: Rasmus Christiansen (pittore/painter Klat [Ras Rubbelkopf ]), Frederik Buch (Professor Nolle [Knoppchen]), Agnes Andersen (modella/model Stella Spang [Junona Lieblich]), Olga Svendsen (nurse Ludovica Rask [Huldine Augentrost]). prod: Nordisk Films Kompagni. uscita/rel: 1.5.1919 (Kosmorama, København). copia/copy: DCP, 12'16" (da/from 35 mm, 20 fps; orig. l: 279 m); did./titles: GER, subt. ENG. fonte/source: Det Danske Filminstitut, København.

    Grand piano: Philip Carli.

    Teatro Verdi, Pordenone, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM): Slapstick Prog. 5 Marriage Rows, 13 Oct 2023

Ulrich Rüdel (GCM 2023): " Comedienne Olga Svendsen (1883-1942) debuted on the Copenhagen theater scene in 1904 and eventually teamed up with another notable bulky comic, with whom she would costar in films as well, Oscar Stribolt. “Both were ‘comedians’ of corpus and character, but again and again they showed that they could feel and shape a situation – a long way from the fat man comedian,” wrote critic/composer Axel Kjerulf in his Politiken obituary for Svendsen (23.10.1942). Upon commencing her film career, she soon became part of the stock company of director Lau Lauritzen, who produced a host of comedy shorts starring the likes of Carl Alstrup or the above-mentioned Oscar Stribolt, before changing to Palladium, where he would create the internationally successful team of Pat and Patachon. Svendsen (like Stribolt) would continue to work with Lauritzen, appearing in several of the Pat and Patachon features between 1921 and 1933, and enjoying a separate feature-film career, including supporting parts in films such as 1928’s Jokeren, well into the talkie era. Playing resolute ladies with a heart as robust as her physique, she anticipated later prominent actresses like DutchGerman Adele Sandrock, American Margaret Dumont, or British Margaret Rutherford, and is worthy of rediscovery recognition as a major funny lady of the silent and early sound era; Mack Sennett, who tried to bring her over to Hollywood according to some 1930s newspaper clippings as well as a 1942 obituary, would surely have agreed. "

" De er Splittergale (literally, “They are completely crazy”) is essentially a “Lau” ensemble piece, a slightly risqué comedy of errors, about shenanigans triggered by a mix-up between two advertisements, one for an artist’s model, the other seeking a housemaid for an old professor (Buch). As often in Lauritzen’s films, Carl Schenstrøm is briefly spotted here in a supporting part; indeed, he’s to blame for the emergence of the “misprint gremlin,” as the titles call it, that triggers the farcical proceedings to begin with. "

" The German-language print seen here largely appears to follow the Danish original texts (preserved at the DFI in script form), but changes the comic characters’ names. Buch’s is his common German moniker, Knoppchen. Meanwhile, Svendsen’s Ludovica Rask becomes Huldine Augentrost, which roughly translates as Huldine Eyebright. The new DCP’s English subtitles follow these modifications in the extant print, which include references to contemporary German cultural phenomena such as the era’s German Aufklärungsfilme (enlightenment films) and nudist culture. " Ulrich Rüdel

AA: A comedy of misunderstandings. Victims of a typo, two sets of characters are bewildered when an advertisement of an artist's nude model is mixed with one for a maid for an old professor. The characters are vivid, the cast is appealing, and Lau Lauritzen sustains a fun atmosphere throughout.