Danish film company founded modern cinema industry

12 August 2009

A new study from the Faculty of Humanities digs deep into the history of Danish cinema and unearths the story of how modern cinema industry came into being. In his PhD dissertation "Anatomy of the Polar Bear", Isak Thorsen reveals that the early success – and subsequent failure – of the famous Danish film company Nordisk Film, founded in 1906, rested solely on the company's organisational and operational proficiency and not, as scholars have hitherto believed, on the quality of its films.

Polar bear with organisational skills

When Ole Olsen founded Nordisk Films Kompagni (as it was then called) in 1906 and provided it with its trademark polar bear logo, he laid the foundations for modern film industry.

During the age of silent film, Nordisk Film was one of the world's leading film companies and the first international film company to restructure its film production to suit the needs of "long films" – the forerunners of modern-day feature films.

- "The massive restructuring of Nordisk’s film production facilities became the standard, to which the rest of the international film industry aspired. The investment gave Nordisk Film a competitive edge and marked the beginning of Danish cinema's golden age; the new organisation simply ensured a steady flow of films and world-wide distribution", Isak Thorsen explains.

An Industrial Revolution

Nordisk's restructuring was the steam engine that set in motion a regular industrial revolution in the international film industry.

- "In order to produce enough long silent films Nordisk Film began employing several production teams simultaneously, becoming the first film company to completely departmentalize the different parts of its film production from manuscript to distribution – a business strategy that Hollywood has turned into a gold mine", Isak Thorsen says.

When Nordisk Film's production peaked in 1915, they shot films in five different studios at the same time and were capable of releasing two full-length films per week; it was no coincidence that its Copenhagen studios were called "the film factory". But the factory was put under enormous pressure during the 1920's.

- "After the First World War, Nordisk Film lost its network of film companies and cinemas in Germany, Central Europe and Russia and was unable to compete with the American film industry, which dominated the world market after the war. Without its distribution network the company could not sustain the high production rate, which had been the cornerstone of Nordisk Film's success", Isak Thorsen concludes.

New sources from old archives

Isak Thorsen's PhD dissertation is based on extensive research in Nordisk Film's Archives, the Danish State Archives and Ole Olsen's private archives; large portions of the material have never been used by researchers before.

The Danish Film Institute Stills & Posters Archives is available for still photos from the early days of Nordisk Films Kompagni and the films it produced.

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