Father of Four

Father of Four

Front cover of the Danish DVD
Directed by Alice O'Fredericks
Robert Saaskin
Produced by Lau Lauritzen Jr.
Henning Karmark
Written by Lis Byrdal
Kaj Engholm(cartoon)
Starring Ib Schønberg
Birgitte Bruun
Music by Sven Gyldmark
Cinematography Rudolf Frederiksen
Edited by Wera Iwanouw
Distributed by ASA Filmudlejning
Release dates
2 November 1953
Running time
97 min.
Country Denmark
Language Danish

Far til Fire, (English Title: Father of Four), is a 1953 Danish family comedy directed by Alice O'Fredericks and starring Ib Schønberg and Birgitte Bruun. The film is based on the comic strip by Kaj Engholm and Olaf Hast. It was the inaugural film in a series of eight Father of Four films made by ASA Films, one each year from 1953 to 1961.

Cast

Story origin

In 1947, Hakon Steffensen, editor of the Politiken newspaper wanted to start running a comic strip that depicted typical Danish life. It was his response to the glut of American comic strips flooding the European marketplace in the post-war years. Steffensen asked cartoonist Kaj Engholm for ideas. Engholm then asked his friend, advertising executive Olav Hast, and Hast proposed the father of four idea. Together, Engholm and Hast roughed out the story of a single father of four children with the oldest daughter running the household. The cartoonists agreed that the father would be a single parent without ever creating a back story for the mother absence. She might have died or left the father for someone else. In interviews, whenever the authors were asked, "Where is the mother?", they replied, "I don't know but we promise to look into it."[1]

The comic strip first appeared in 1948 and ran daily for 40 years—on the back page of Politiken until 1955, then in the Berlingske Tidende newspaper until 1988. The text was written by Hast until retired from the strip in 1973, after which it was written by a variety of writers. Engholm drew the strip until his death in 1988.

Sequels

Father of Four was such an enormous success that a sequel Father of Four in the Snow (Far til fire i sneen) was quickly made and released in 1954. Thereafter, seven more sequels were made, one every year until 1961, all directed by Alice O'Fredericks. A ninth film was planned for release in 1962 but was never produced.

In 2005, the series was renewed with the release of Father of Four is Back (Far til fire - gi'r aldrig op) directed by Claus Bjerre and in 2006 with Father of Four: Living Large (Far til fire - i stor stil).

YearTitleOriginal titleNotes
1954 Father of Four in the Snow Far til fire i sneen directed by Alice O'Fredericks
1955Father of Four in the CountryFar til fire på landet
1956Father of Four in the City Far til fire i byen
1957 Father of Four and Uncle SofusFar til fire og onkel Sofus
1958 Father of Four and the Wolf CubsFar til fire og ulveungerne
1959 Father of Four on BornholmFar til fire på Bornholm
1960 Father of Four with Full MusicFar til fire med fuld musik
1971 Father of Four in Good HumorFar til fire i højt humør directed by Ib Mossin
2005 Father of Four Never Gives UpFar til fire - gi'r aldrig op directed by Claus Bjerre
2006Father of Four: Living LargeFar til fire - i stor stil
2008Father of Four: Home Field Advantage Far til fire - på hjemmebane
2010Father of Four on Japanese Far til fire - på japansk
2011Father of Four Back in the Nature Far til fire - tilbage til naturen
2012Father of Four to Seas Far til fire - til søs
2014Father of Four Uncle Sofus ReturnsFar til fire - Onkel Sofus vender tilbage directed by Giacomo Campeotto
2015 Father of Fours Wild VacationFar til Fires vilde ferie

References

  1. Engholm, Ole, Hvordan opstod Far til Fire?, Far til Fire og Far til Fires far, www.olengo.dk, retrieved 2008
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