Description
HEAVEN AND HELL (1969)
The book will chart the history of the biggest cult turkey in Norwegian film history, and the media scandal that followed the controversial premiere of the anti-drug propaganda drama "Heaven and Hell" in 1969. This all-Norwegian equivalent of "Reefer Madness" was the brainchild of senior doctor Victor Borg from the Blue Cross clinic and folk comedy director Øyvind Vennerød, who had serious intentions of warning Norway's youth about the dangers of drugs. In theory, a shocking drama about how handsome western youth (played by Lillebjørn Nilsen and Sigrid Huun) end up straight in hashish hell. In practice, an imaginative free interpretation of the youth culture of the sixties seen through the eyes of aging, conservative gentlemen with hats and tobacco pipes, who were met with hearty mockery around the world. "Heaven and Hell" became, against all odds, one of the year's biggest box office successes in Norwegian cinemas, largely thanks to all the freaks who lined up to make fun of the film.
The eternal freelancer Espen Svenningsen Rambøl is, among other things, a long-time film reviewer in Dagsavisen, was behind the Kultfilm column in FilmMagasinet (and later Natt&Dag) – and has written for a very long list of Norwegian publications. He has never jumped out of a window in Copenhagen on LSD.