The Reluctant Sadist

The late 1930s. A young enemployed, unskilled worker walks through the streets of Copenhagen, sustaining himself partly on the dole and free soup-kitchen meals and partly on day-dreams. He spends time at a cemetry studying headstone inscriptions. Mild-mannered and of poetic bent, he understands little of an intellectual friend's advice and shies away from the love of a woman who shares her bed with him.

With sinister intentions, evil sorcerer Noureddin lures the young Aladdin into a dark cave to retrieve an old lamp that doesn't look like anything special. But: When Aladdin rubs it, the genie of the lamp appears and can grant any of his wishes, whether it's the princess or the entire kingdom.

The series follows the residents of an apartment building on Copenhagen's Christianshavn, as they go about their daily lives and challenges. There is Olsen, a mover with an old fashion view of the world, Clausen who runs the local pet shop, Egon the career focused assistant, their wives who work hard to keep their spouses lives together, the young couple Tue and Rikke who recently moved in, the hard working caretaker Meyer, who never puts in to much effort, and of course Emma, the innkeeper of Rottehullet, where all the important decisions are made while running up the bar tab. The series was produced by Nordisk Film for Danmarks Radio TV station between the years 1970-77. The series' first director was Ebbe Langberg, then Erik Balling and Tom Hedegaard respectively. The series was conceived by an author team of well-known Danish authors such Leif Panduro, Benny Andersen, and Lise Nørgaard.

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.

The young bank assistant Harald Løve is not particularly suited to sharing his name with the king of beasts. At least, courage and decisiveness have not been his strongest qualities thus far; quite the contrary. Løve is a timid man who is afraid of almost everything and everyone, not least his boss, the arrogant and somewhat eccentric provincial director, bank director Nikolajsen.

Among the residents of the boarding house on Fredhvilevej are Børge Blom, a civil servant, the feisty Nelly Smith, and taxi driver Ib Nielsen. Because their house is to be demolished to make way for a parking lot, they are given 14 days' notice to vacate. Good advice is now hard to come by, and after a fruitless visit to the Ministry of Housing, they agree to resort to unconventional methods—they occupy Louisenborg Castle! Upon arriving at the castle with their belongings, confusion reigns supreme—there is moving chaos, a visit from an Arab prince, plenty of drinks, and love in the corners.

At the Copenhagen Conservatory of Music, Mogens Birk passes his organ exam with distinction. Together with his brother Steen Birk, he has supported himself during his studies by playing in the city's small taverns. Editor Jepsen from Bollerupager attends the exam, with a view to hiring a new organist for the city. At the parish council meeting, Consul Møller's daughter Kirsten, who was educated in Paris, is nominated, but Jepsen has Mogens as his candidate for the position, and he gets the job.

A millionaire gets amnesia after a hit to the head and now he has to rediscover his past and decide what kind of man he wants to be in the future.

An episodic film with six different stories that are more or less interwoven. A married couple is celebrating their 19th wedding anniversary. The wife wants a chest of drawers. During a trip to the countryside, they pass by the place where the chest of drawers is sold. Dr. Gregersen's wife is pregnant. Meanwhile, the doctor has bought an expensive typewriter. The doctor advertises the typewriter for sale through his friend, and the buyer is none other than the doctor's wife. A couple wants a bigger apartment, they argue and break up. Later, we meet them again, where they have both found work through an advertisement with a rich man as a housekeeper and a driver. A woman wants to sell a pram because she is going to the hospital. Her little son is to be looked after by her sister. The couple who cannot have children have just adopted the little boy's sister and now come to buy the pram.

Opposite Regensen lives the brave and well-off coppersmith Smidt with his equally brave wife and their delightful young daughter Rikke, as well as the three journeymen Madsen, Mikkel and Lars, who, according to old craftsman custom, both eat and stay with the master. When an acquaintance of journeyman Madsen comes to visit, he learns that he is unhappily in love with Rikke, and he promises to help him get in touch with her.

Bastian and Lene are a good couple, as a journalist and press photographer. They take turns to get ideas for how to get a scoop for the magazine "Tit og Lyt". They agree to play husband and wife so that Bastian can get an apartment. Lene is deeply in love with Bastian why she gets their mutual friend Soren to send a man from the housing authority. He says that they most have one child to stay in the apartment.

The young successful author Eva Saabye surprises both her publisher William Nerup and the literary critic Dr. Hennings, who is a good friend of hers, by not wanting to publish the last book she has written. One day Eva takes the manuscript for her novel out of the drawer, and as she starts leafing through it, we are drawn into its plot. The book, titled "I Met a Murderer", has Eva Saabye as one of the main characters.

In the charming old Copenhagen neighborhood of Nyboder lives a group of quirky and distinctive characters. Among them is Albertine, who one day is visited by her young niece Ditte, who has run away from a strict upbringing at home. She has fallen in love with her dance teacher Johny, who, however, is not very keen on surrendering to the young woman's charms. Fortunately, circumstances bring the two closer together.

Hermann works at NATO headquarters in Brussels and is only home on weekends. He is quite a male chauvinist. That is why his wife Merete has not told him that she has pursued a career in the army and become a lieutenant. In Merete's regiment, Senior Sergeant Vasby suspects her of being a spy because of her "mysterious" conversations with NATO. This develops into an amusing spy hunt, and many people get involved. When Hermann is called up again, he "forgets" to tell his wife.

Liv is a frankly sexual being. She finds herself in a series of sexual relationships with men who, she says, fall too much in love with her and become oppressive. Finally she meets a man who is very much like her, but that brings its own problems.

An unreliable lover of women and a hunchbacked clockmaker are suspected of killing a beautiful woman. Only one of them has done it, but whom?