Det händer i natt (Aldrig i livet/Web of Desire/Babes and Hoodlums, 1956)

Swedish Klubb Super 8 DVD edition of a forgotten Swedish B Masterpiece ?


WOW! Great Fun! I Loved this.
One of the, if not The, most entertaining older Swedish film i've ever seen. A forgotten gem for the
Psychotronic film lovers and long before it's time. BUT, it was banned in Sweden by the prude church-lady-like film censors and
hated on by the coprophiliac film reviewers and was a big economic disaster for Ragneborn, and it ended his directing career.
It's so unjust, so rotten that total idiots are allowed to ruin the lifes and careers of talented people.
Yeah, yeah, Ragneborn for sure was no Orson Welles but he was a decent theatre-trained actor and with a talent for making snappy
paced films based on contemporary (US film had a wave of these a-coming) raunchy subjects as teenage delinquency, prostitution
and pregnancy. Exploitative, maybe, but .... current.

"Det händer i natt" is snappy and full of Energy

Sure, sure, Det händer i natt is a somewhat trashy B movie that careens wildly and ends in bloody mayhem, but it's always enjoyable,
to say the least, and Not in a So Bad it's Good way either because it has that hard to define Pulse to it, it's snappy and it's full of energy.
Also, it has some truly great, in future renowned actors in it, as Ingrid Thulin and Keve Hjelm and with some scenes done interestingly.



It's a heist movie and surely the safe-cracking scene was, at least partly, inspired by Jules Dassin's 1955 world-wide Smash Hit Rififi
and Arne Ragneborn clearly attempted to create a Swedish Film Noir with a heist mixed with some comedic teenage delinquency.
It was banned by the Swedish film censors (but exported in it's original shape to the continent and overseas) and they had to re-make
it as a stupid farce - "Aldrig i livet" to get it through the Swedish censors, but it didn't help as the film was doomed anyway.

Crime, babes, booze and snow - that's what the young gangsters in this film like, and we get to see a lot of it. The frequent taking of
drugs could be the main reason for this film being banned, and in the party scene everyone is totally stoned and laughs hysterically.
Hey, they've fun, can i be invited too, please! There's some nudity and actress Norma Sjöholm sports one of the deepest cleavages ever

The Film:

Nice young man Gunnar (Arne Ragneborn) dates wholesome girl Margit and little does her parents know that he's a Master criminal
and plans a Heist. Margit's father (Elof Ahrle) is a night-watchman and on his round there's a company with a safe full of money.
Gunnars 2 underlings are the eminent Svampen (Lars Ekborg, the sponge) and Nicke (Sven-Eric Gamble) both junkies and boozers.
As their female sometimes gang member we see nightclub singer Lily (Ingrid Thulin) who performs 2 songs (she talk-sings nicely
in english and french) and her drunkard husband (Keve Hjelm) plays the piano. Hampe Faustman plays the nightclub owner.

This film gets no credit anywhere it seems and i can't understand it. Compared to other Swedish films of the period ... and older ones
.... and later ones .... it Rocks! It's a slightly sleazy B noir heist crime movie, and with some comedy too, almost a spoof of the genre.
The safe-cracking heist scene is done in a very interesting, smart and highly unusual way: The duo of Svampen and Nicke are
finally inside the office and in front of the safe, but when they talk they are turned against the camera, almost if standing on a stage
or talking to us, the audience. WTF? Suddenly a bag (to stuff the money) is thrown at them and yes, Gunnar is there with them too.

Question: In the party (or orgy) scene they are stoned high and watches an old 8 mm film. What was that? Is it really a silent movie,
a newly made one to resemble a silent movie, a porno movie ? Ouch, i will never ever get to know this as there are no discussions
about this film anywhere and an audio commentary will never see the light.

In SVD, Svenska Dagbladet 09/27/2002 Tomas Seidevall from Klubb Super 8 told the reporter that they were hunting the only known
existing copy of Det händer i natt and that this was to be found in the USA.
This DVD is a bit dark sometimes and in the night scenes you can't see almost anything. If only Klubb Super 8 could get some
money from .... someone, for a HD restoration of this film print, and with an audio commentary. This film deserves it.
But big thanks to Klubb Super 8 for their search after a print and for they releasing it on a DVD. Please buy the DVD and support them

The film in the DVD is presented in 4:3 fullscreen, black & white, with a swedish only audio mono and no subtitles
Extras: Aldrig i livet - the re-cut and re-made comic version of the film, a 29 minutes documentary about the career of Arne Ragneborn
and with interviews

 

Back to Cult & Classics Film Page 1