玛莎号

一部伟大的邪典喜剧，可能超前于时代。一部深受丹麦水手喜爱的电影。玛莎是一艘非常古老且非常生锈的货轮，在地中海航行，几乎被丹麦航运公司遗忘。船员们利用这一点，在船上过着非常舒适和奢华的生活。不过，并非没有财务问题。有一天，船主突然需要在她身上航行。他是一个非常老派和纪律严明的人，当然对船和船员的状态不满意。但是，当船员们不得不为他们心爱的旧轮船的生存而战时，他们展示了他们的价值。

Danish director Erik Balling is mostly known for the long-run “Olsen Gang” series (altogether 14 features from 1968 to 1998, which he directed all but the last one), which MARTHA precedes and it already stars the trinity from the “Olsen Gang” Series (Sprogøe, Grunwald and Bundgaard).

SS Martha, an old coal-fueled schooner, is built in 1927 and has been neglected by the ship company. Its crew enjoys a certain laissez-faire until the company head pays an unexpected visit and they must prove their worth to save the ship from scrapping.

A mixed bag of wackadoos consists of the crew: a bibulous Captain (Stegger), a dyslexic telegraphist (Hagen), a bosun who cannot read location (Wiehe), not to mention Halfdan (Jensen), a reedy, klutzy 17-year-old deckhand, whose cloddish schtick is effected ad nauseam. Chief engineer Brovst (Reichhardt) and 2nd engineer Alf (Bundgaard) cannot solve the engine glitch, so they manage to spirit a third one Knud (Grunwald) on board. Maritime life may be monotonous and arduous, yet when it comes to repasts, the crew never slum it, no greasy hand can pass the watchful eyes of butler Watson (Sprogøe) and the cook (Kaas) lives for the moment when everyone is amazed to see what he has prepared for them.

Their heavenly life comes a halt on the evening when they go out to celebrate Halfdan’s birthday, a prostitute (Anousaki) is duly purveyed for his rite of passage. The ship company owner O.P. Andersen (Kjærulff-Schmidt) blows in with his spoiled daughter Lone (Borchsenius) and his omniscient secretary (Weiding). An overhaul is grudgingly implemented and most of them are prove incompetent and summarily fired by Andersen, although Lone needs to be rough-housed by a macho man like Knud to be meek and smitten (a glaring mismatch to propagate homegrown masculine prowess).

The third act is a jocose escapade, and Balling is au fait with confecting a pleasurable fare without getting lumbered down by the mechanical plot device, and everyone seems to have a ball in front of the camera and their camaraderie is totally infectious, though the ensemble tends to stick to their peculiar traits with unerring monotony.

MARTHA is delightful escapism mingled with a frothy working-class spirit and a proto-hygge feel-goodism that is commensurate with populace’s expectation, Balling’s knack of entertaining his audience is home and dry.

referential entries: Kaspar Rostrup’s MEMORIES OF A MARRIAGE (1989, 7.2/10); Roy Andersson’s A SWEDISH LOVE STORY (1970, 7.3/10); Blake Edwards’s OPERATION PETTICOAT (1959, 7.0/10).Title: MarthaYear: 1967Genre: Comedy, FamilyCountry: Denmark, GreeceLanguage: Danish, English, FrenchDirector: Erik BallingScreenwriters: Erik Balling, Preben KaasMusic: Bent Fabricius-Bjerre, Preben Kaas, Vangelis PitsiladisCinematography: Jørgen SkovEditor: Birger LindCast:Karl SteggerMorten GrunwaldOve SprogøePoul ReichhardtPoul BundgaardHelge Kjærulff-SchmidtHanne BorchseniusPreben KaasHenrik Rosing WiehePaul HagenBirger JensenEleni AnousakiLily WeidingBjørn Puggaard-MüllerSverre WilbergOdd WolstadSotiris MoustakasStavros ChristofidesRating: 7.0/10