Karin Nellemose

Matador

Matador is a Danish TV series produced and shown between 1978 and 1982. It is set in the fictional Danish town of Korsbæk between 1929 and 1947. It follows the lives of a range of characters from across the social spectrum, focusing specifically on the rivalry between the families of two businessmen: The banker Hans Christian Varnæs, an established local worthy, and social climber Mads Skjern, who arrives in town as the series opens. The name Matador was taken from the localised edition of the boardgame Monopoly, also the series' tentative English title. In addition, in contemporary Danish a "matador" is often used to describe a business tycoon, in the series referring to the character of Mads Skjern and his craftiness as a self-made entrepreneur. Directed by famed Danish film maker Erik Balling, Matador was the idea of author Lise Nørgaard who wrote the bulk of the episodes alongside Karen Smith, Jens Louis Petersen and Paul Hammerich. The series is one of the most well-known and popular examples of Danish television and represents the peak of longtime development of Danish TV drama by the public service channel Danmarks Radio. The series has become part of the modern self-understanding of Danes, partly because of its successful mix of melodrama and a distinct warm Danish humour in the depiction of characters, which were portrayed by a wide range of the most popular Danish actors at the time; but also not least because of its accurate portrayal of a turbulent Denmark from around the start of the Great Depression and through Nazi Germany's occupation of Denmark in World War II.

Spurve under taget

The action takes place in the bleak, overcrowded, and for many too small apartments in one of Copenhagen's bridge districts, where there are both good citizens, but also people who live a shadowy existence. Up in the attic, Mathilde lives alone with her little daughter Vibeke. She is the result of a coincidence, as is so often the case when a young girl from the provinces comes to the Capital. Mathilde comes from Vordingborg, she went to the city to look for work. At the boarding house where she stayed, she made a friend Ellen, a rather frivolous and indifferent young girl.

Susanne

Summer in the small market town of Stenvig equals life and good earnings for the city's shoppers. Love flourishes side by side with the urge to act, and especially the baker's daughter Susanne makes the young men's hearts beat fast. But when the infatuated Otto gets a little too close, it has major consequences for Susanne.

Jeg elsker dig

Six people—three couples—meet by chance at a dance restaurant in Copenhagen's nightlife scene. A marriage swindler and former actress, an elderly Supreme Court lawyer and his wife, and a young couple with equal parts courage and erotic repression. As the evening progresses, the empty champagne bottles pile up. Old inhibitions are cast aside and new connections are formed – and none of the six leave as they arrived.

Baronessen fra benzintanken

The film begins with Baron von Rosensteen's funeral. As Rosensteen has no heirs, the old Rosensteen Castle is to be inherited by the Rabenfeldt family. Supreme Court Attorney Berg visits the widow baroness about a document found among the papers of her son, the deceased baron. It turns out that the baron had a child out of wedlock with a non-noble woman. The widow baroness and the Supreme Court attorney decide to find the child, as this would mean that an heir to the castle had been found. The child turns out to be a girl named Anne Tofte, who works at a gas station with her uncle Lars Tofte and his colleague Hans Høy. They persuade Anne to live with the baroness for a while, which she is not very keen on. The widow tries to teach Anne to be a fine lady, rather than the tomboyish workshop mechanic her uncle had raised her to be.

Café Paradis

This film could easily be a true story taken from contemporary Denmark. It is a typical Tuesday morning: stormy weather, slush, and bitter cold. Two young women are cycling to work. They make an unpleasant discovery: they find a dead man on a bench in the park.

Den gamle mølle paa Mols

A young, beautiful girl arrives at Krogerød Kro on Mols and shocks the innkeeper by telling him that he is her father. At the same time, the inn is about to lose its liquor license, threatening its very existence. The innkeeper tells the girl that both he and his friend from his military days have paid child support to her, as no one knew which of them was her real father.

Barken Margrethe

My Dear Wives

The celebrated actor George Bergmann has four divorces behind him. When his four former wives get the impression that he is cozying up to a very young actress, they feel that they must take action. However, this leads to various misunderstandings and complications, which partly involves the former wives' new men and partly the young girl's strict parents.

While the Gate was Locked

The film depicts a series of events that take place in a Copenhagen apartment building while the gate is closed, specifically between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., and we encounter a number of human destinies, happy and unhappy, just as in real life.