Movie program

Jumping at the bedside… in Denmark

The year 1968 was a turning-point for countries throughout Europe. At the time a university was burning in Paris, the same was happening to Jan Palach in Prague, and film censorship (finally) burnt out in Denmark.

Sexual revolution finally shook the film industry in the right way. Hundreds of soft and hard erotic films finally swamped cinematographers as well as private collections (on the favourite 8mm film). Despite the established Croatian nickname Swedish action films for these kinds of films, the biggest source of erotic cinematography was Denmark rather than Sweden. Protected by the educational film label, the Danes quickly started the cinematographic and sexual education of the widest audience.

Jumping at the Bedside, Her Wicked Ways, and other famous titles found their audience very quickly. The moment that everyone had been waiting for had finally arrived – the border between the usual film repertoire and the erotic films started being blurred. The qualities of those early erotic films such as joy, entertainement, ingenuity and zest have never been topped. The culmination definitely came in the form of a real cinematic life of the American cult film Deep Throat.

Obviously, even in Croatia these films soon started having their followers. The censorship in Yugoslavia first dealt with transforming those hard core films into soft core ones but it soon gave in which is why throughout the country real porn started being screened along with the regular cinema repertoire. Among other reasons, the 1980s were special because, with the appearance of the VCR, porn was still able to be watched solely at the cinema or at private screenings. That is why there were situations in which, especially in smaller towns, the younger child would go to see a cartoon at the cinema at 6 pm, the older child would visit the cinema at 8 pm and the parents at 10 pm. And everybody would be happy and content.

But, with the appearance of the VCR, which was then followed by cable TV, and, finally, by the Internet, the film industry started being stratified. At the era of complete availability of all (absolutely all!) kinds of pornography, this year’s vintage outlook on Danish erotic successes will takes us back to the time when it was not important to have the biggest one or biggest ones nor to have the back as grass in spring. It was important to be open-minded, to be unrestrained by the firm social conventions and to have fun in the process. If that meant you had to caress somebody’s breasts with your mouth – lucky you!

Daniel Rafaelić

Danish Bedside Stories

Danish erotic comedy directed by John Hillbard

Originally called ‘Sengekanten’ (Bedside), this series of Danish erotic comedies, filmed by director John Hillbard in the period between 1970 and 1976, was made up of eight film titles which were screened in the 1970s even in Croatian cinemas. Figures, which climbed up to 200 000 viewers for some of these films, reveal the popularity of this series.

We are going to screen three of these titles as part of this year’s Casanovafest, hoping to manage to briefly take you back to the wild 1970s and the Croatian cinematographic scene of that era.

Selma Mehadžić

Coordinator of the movie programme

Bedroom Mazurka

Original title: Mazurka på sengekanten

Year: 1970

Duration: 92 min

Production: Palladium Film, Denmark

Director: John Hilbard

Actors: Ole Søltoft, Axel Strøbye, Annie Birgit Garde, Paul Hagen

Bedroom Mazurka is the first and, according to many, the best film from the series of erotic comedies Sengekanten. The plot is set in a boys-only private boarding school, where its rector is looking for his replacement after having been appointed as new minister of culture. The choice falls on the young teacher Mikkelsen, adored by all of the students, particularly for his opinion that girls should be allowed in the school as well. However, a problem arises when it turns out that Mikklesen is a virgin and that the school rules dictate that the rector should be a married man. Therefore a group of schoolboys set out in a quest to find a girlfriend for their favourite teacher and help him get the rector’s position.

Jumpin’ at the Bedside

Original title: Hopla på sengekanten

Year: 1976

Duration: 83 min

Production: Palladium Film, Denmark

Director: John Hilbard

Actors: Ole Søltoft, Vivi Rau, Annie Birgit Garde, Ulla Jessen

Jumpin’ at the Bedside is the last film in the series of erotic films Sengekanten. It was this film that achieved most popularity in Croatia, partly because of its musical and fun title. In the centre of the plot is a businessman’s neglected wife who gets a job at an escort agency. A series of entertaining episodes begins when the same agency starts providing services for the husband’s business clients…

Come to My Bedside

Original title: Der må være en sengekant
Year: 1975
Duration: 92 min
Production: Palladium Film, Denmark
Director: John Hilbard
Actors: Søren Strømberg, Vivi Rau, Paul Hagen, Annie Birgit Garde

Come to My Bedside is one of the rare films from the Sengekanten series with steamier scenes of sexual intercourse but it was, just as the others, treated as a mainstream film, which is why it was shown in regular cinema distribution.
In this sixth and final Sengekanten film, a young salesman is left by his wife after she gets tired of his insatiable lust. But it seems like life as a single man is not a problem for him since there are many girls who come to his bed to console him…