Harry og Kammertjeneren (1961) - Christensen's glorious Danish film treasure

♥♥♥♥♥♥

 

Hilarity seems promised on this humorous, sketched poster for Bent Christensen's Harry og Kammertjeneren

Harry lives in a shed on a junkyard and helps a greengrocer in the city, when he suddenly and out of the blue inherits a tidy sum of money. But the aging, single Harry only wants for the two of them to have a personal butler to make things a little nicer for them over-all.

Harry og Kammertjeneren is written by Leif Panduro (Støvsugerbanden (1963)) and Danish master filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Bent Christensen (Pigen og Vandpytten (1958)), whose 4th feature it was. The Danish title translates to 'Harry and the butler'.

The story is a fantastically funny concept; proletarian manners meet a snooty butler's ditto, and added to that a series of delightful characters and marvelous acting performances: Osvald Helmuth (Hunger/Sult (1966)) and Ebbe Rode (Hærværk (1977)) are touching and incredibly good in the title parts, which also, - in case you were wondering, - do have a gay tongue-in-cheek dimension to it, (the two basically become like an old married couple.)

Harry og Kammertjeneren is inventive and unique, outrageously funny and insightful, humanistic and life-affirming at the same time. Henning Moritzen (Onkel Vanja, TV movie (1971)), Gunnar Lauring (Der Var Engang (1966)) as the bishop and Lily Broberg (Stormvarsel (1968)) as the barkeep, along with Palle Kirk (Der Var Engang en Krig (1966)) as the boy with the rocket and the girl with the 'pearls' are all first rate. Harry og Kammertjeneren is a true Danish film treasure.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain (but reportedly a hit)

[Harry og Kammertjeneren was released September (Denmark) and runs 105 minutes. Christensen bought the concept from a Dutch colleague for 2.5k DKK (approximately 360 $). Helmuth accepted the part for a small 30k DKK salary, approximately 4.5k $, but the actors reportedly invested their salary into the production, which Christensen financed himself. Shooting took place in Denmark. The film was a success in Denmark, allowing Christensen to become an important Danish producer/filmmaker. It was screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic and had general releases in Argentina and Finland (and likely more markets). The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar, lost to Through a Glass Darkly. James Stewart met Fritz Helmuth, Osvald Helmuth's son at a film festival a few years after the film's release, telling him that he had voted for it as an academy member and thought it was one of the best he had ever seen. A long talked about American remake never came to fruition. Christensen returned with Sømænd og Svigermødre (1962). Helmuth returned in Den Hvide Hingst (1961); Rode in Søskende (1961, TV movie), Et Brev til En Søn (1961, TV movie) and theatrically in Det Stod i Avisen (1962). 471 IMDb users have given Harry og Kammertjeneren a 7.5/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of Harry og Kammertjeneren?