Viggo Larsen
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 84/2. Photo: Karl Schenker, Berlin / Messter Film.
Viggo Larsen (1880-1957) was a Danish actor, director, scriptwriter and producer. He was one of the pioneers in film history. With Wanda Treumann he directed and produced many German films of the 1910s.
Born in Copenhagen, Larsen was first military trained before starting to work in a cinema which was part of Ole Olsen’s cinema chain. After the founding of the Nordisk film company by Olsen in 1906, Viggo Larsen started a career as film actor, scriptwriter and director, as one of the first in Denmark. Between 1906 and 1909 Larsen shot some 29 films in Denmark, among which the more well-known were Løvejagten på Elleore/Lion Hunt in Elleore (1907) and the five part Sherlock Holmes series, which was released between 1910 and 1911. The shots of the lion hunt Larsen took at the little Danish island of Elleore and in the Copenhagen Zoo. The hitherto unusual and attractive use of exotic animals created a worldwide success. In 1910 Larsen left Denmark and pursued his career in Berlin, Germany, at the company Vitascope. Because of the previous success of his Sherlock Holmes series he produced and directed various films inspired by British detectives. He also did a rip off of the popular White Slave films by Nordisk, about which Olsen might not have been amused, entitled Der weisse Sklavin, 3.Teil (1911), hinting at the previous two films by Nordisk. In 1910 Larsen discovered the stage actress Wanda Treumann at the Berliner Lustspielhaus. He shot many films with her and together they founded in 1912 the production company Treumann Larsen Film GmbH. One typical example is the film Die Sumpfblume (1913), in which Treumann is a vaudeville actress whose foot is copied in stone by a sculptor. She goes up the social ladder and marries a rich aristocrat (Larsen). He is appalled when he finds the sculpture and thus finds out about her past, so he strangles her. Another fine example that survived is Wanda’s Trick (1917), in which a cigarette factory girl (Treumann) offers herself as first prize in a lottery in order to save the factory from ruin. Larsen only did the production of this film, while Franz Eckstein directed. After a highly productive career – he directed some 73 films and produced 19 – Viggo Larsen quitted directing in 1921 and focused on acting. Larsen stayed in Germany until the end of the Second World War and returned to Denmark in 1945. Larsen’s last film was Diesel (1942), directed by Gerhard Lamprecht. Viggo Larsen died in Copenhagen in 1957.
Sources: German Wikipedia, IMDB
Viggo Larsen
German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 84/2. Photo: Karl Schenker, Berlin / Messter Film.
Viggo Larsen (1880-1957) was a Danish actor, director, scriptwriter and producer. He was one of the pioneers in film history. With Wanda Treumann he directed and produced many German films of the 1910s.
Born in Copenhagen, Larsen was first military trained before starting to work in a cinema which was part of Ole Olsen’s cinema chain. After the founding of the Nordisk film company by Olsen in 1906, Viggo Larsen started a career as film actor, scriptwriter and director, as one of the first in Denmark. Between 1906 and 1909 Larsen shot some 29 films in Denmark, among which the more well-known were Løvejagten på Elleore/Lion Hunt in Elleore (1907) and the five part Sherlock Holmes series, which was released between 1910 and 1911. The shots of the lion hunt Larsen took at the little Danish island of Elleore and in the Copenhagen Zoo. The hitherto unusual and attractive use of exotic animals created a worldwide success. In 1910 Larsen left Denmark and pursued his career in Berlin, Germany, at the company Vitascope. Because of the previous success of his Sherlock Holmes series he produced and directed various films inspired by British detectives. He also did a rip off of the popular White Slave films by Nordisk, about which Olsen might not have been amused, entitled Der weisse Sklavin, 3.Teil (1911), hinting at the previous two films by Nordisk. In 1910 Larsen discovered the stage actress Wanda Treumann at the Berliner Lustspielhaus. He shot many films with her and together they founded in 1912 the production company Treumann Larsen Film GmbH. One typical example is the film Die Sumpfblume (1913), in which Treumann is a vaudeville actress whose foot is copied in stone by a sculptor. She goes up the social ladder and marries a rich aristocrat (Larsen). He is appalled when he finds the sculpture and thus finds out about her past, so he strangles her. Another fine example that survived is Wanda’s Trick (1917), in which a cigarette factory girl (Treumann) offers herself as first prize in a lottery in order to save the factory from ruin. Larsen only did the production of this film, while Franz Eckstein directed. After a highly productive career – he directed some 73 films and produced 19 – Viggo Larsen quitted directing in 1921 and focused on acting. Larsen stayed in Germany until the end of the Second World War and returned to Denmark in 1945. Larsen’s last film was Diesel (1942), directed by Gerhard Lamprecht. Viggo Larsen died in Copenhagen in 1957.
Sources: German Wikipedia, IMDB