ABBA - the film

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Movie
German title ABBA - the film
Original title ABBA - The Movie
Country of production Australia / Sweden
original language English
Publishing year 1977
length 96 minutes
Age rating FSK from 6
Rod
Director Let Hallström
script Robert Caswell
production Stig Anderson
Reg Grundy
music Benny Andersson
Stig Anderson
Bjorn Ulvaeus
camera Jack Churchill
Paul Onorato
cut Let Hallström
Malou Hallström
Ulf Neidemar
occupation

ABBA - The Movie (English: ABBA - The Movie ) was shot in 1977 under the direction of Lasse Hallström during the Australian tour of the Swedish pop group ABBA and produced in widescreen and with 4-channel sound . The film had its world premiere on December 15, 1977 in the Australian cities of Sydney and Perth , and its European premiere was on December 26, 1977 in Stockholm. The German theatrical release was on February 16, 1978. Within one year, ABBA - The Movie had over 5 million moviegoers.

On February 7, 2006, the revised DVD production of the film received a Swedish Grammy Award in Stockholm .

action

Ashley Wallace is a radio host and disc jockey who usually presents simple shows. Now he gets a big order from his editor-in-chief: Abbamania is currently ruling Australia and the band will soon be touring the whole country. He has already announced an in-depth, exclusive interview with ABBA for his channel 2TW , which will be broadcast on the evening of their departure after their tour. Since it has not yet been carried out, he applies this to Ashley, who is reluctant to get involved.

Even when ABBA arrives in Sydney , Ashley has no chance of getting to the group. Thousands of fans, countless reporters and chaos rule the airport. However, a colleague draws his attention to the press conference that is to take place shortly in the band's hotel. Ashley rushed to rent a car and set off, but was stuck in a traffic jam and late at the hotel, where the press conference had long ended. On the evening of the first ABBA concert, it was pouring rain and since Ashley forgot his press card, he was not allowed to go to the venue. The next day he tries his luck in front of the Sydney Opera House , where ABBA is holding a photo shoot. Unfortunately, the group's rigorous bodyguard thwarted his opportunity.

As the group travels on to Perth , Ashley has to ask his boss for a plane ticket, but assures him that she will be close. On the way he uses newspapers and magazines to deal with the group and the background stories of the four members. When he arrived in Perth, he interviews various passers-by and asks them about their opinion on ABBA, which he wants to include in the report and the interview later. Since his press card has still not been forwarded, he is turned away again at the venue of the concert, but manages to get past the tear-off ticket with a trick. He secretly tries to gain access to the cloakrooms, but is caught again by the group's bodyguard and thrown out. After the concert he tries his luck at the band's hotel, where the band is amused by the headlines and newspaper reports. Again, Ashley is harshly rejected.

After all the failures, he dreams of being very close to the four ABBA members and getting the interview with ease. He is woken up by a phone call from his boss who impatiently inquires about the state of affairs and is even more annoyed when Ashley tells him he must follow the group on to Adelaide . Being kept away from ABBA once more when the group arrives, he continues to spend time interviewing fans and passers-by, but realizes that this is still a long way from reaching his goal. In the end he follows the band to Melbourne , where the editor desperately makes it clear to him that failure would mean a serious loss of image for the station. Ashley resolutely seeks out the group's manager, who promises him an interview for the following morning.

Satisfied and self-assured, he attends the ABBA concert in the evening and enjoys the band's music and the show for the first time. The next morning, however, he realizes that he missed his appointment. In addition, the Moomba Festival is currently taking place, whose viewers make it difficult to get around the city quickly. Ashley arrives at the town hall, where ABBA is greeted enthusiastically by thousands of fans and waving to the crowds from the balcony. When Ashley asks about this in a last attempt at the group's hotel, he is informed that the band has already left. Disappointed and angry, Ashley admits defeat and decides to quit his reporter job. Then he unexpectedly meets ABBA in the elevator of his hotel, who willingly give him his long-awaited interview.

While Ashley is in a hurry to cut the interview together and bring it to the station's studio, the group says goodbye to the euphoric fans and takes off on their flight home. The film ends with the broadcast of the interview and a flashback to the concert tour through Australia.

production

Australia

The idea of ​​a feature film about ABBA goes back to the Australian company " Reg Grundy Productions", which also took over 25 percent of the costs. Originally, a concert documentary in 16mm film format for television was planned, but at the end of 1976 it was decided to produce the project as a Panavision cinema film in 35mm format. Lasse Hallström was commissioned as the director , who worked out the framework with disc jockey Ashley Wallace and initially wrote the story provisionally on 5½ pages. It was later to be combined with the recordings of the live concerts and new songs by the group. The production of the film cost around 5 million crowns , which, according to Billboard magazine, was the equivalent of $ 700,000.

In January 1977, when ABBA was on tour in Europe, Hallström went to Australia for a week to get an impression of the locations. He then accompanied the group to some of their concerts in order to be able to plan the structure and sequence of their shows later. The main role was cast shortly before filming began with Robert Hughes . From then on, the film crew accompanied ABBA at all concerts and public appearances in Australia, starting with their arrival in Sydney on February 27, 1977, when over 1,500 fans were waiting at the airport. The press conference, which can be seen relatively at the beginning of the film, took place on February 28, 1977 in the "Sebel Townhouse" hotel, where the four group members were staying. Around 250 journalists and photographers were present.

The first concert in Sydney on March 3, 1977 was overshadowed by pouring rain, which caused some technical breakdowns. So water penetrated the film container, which destroyed most of the material. This scene therefore had to be cut together with recordings from other concerts in the film. To make Ashley's unsuccessful attempts to get an interview with ABBA more believable, Hughes was initially not introduced to the group, as was actor Tom Oliver, who plays the rigorous bodyguard. In the scene in front of the Sydney Opera House, there was almost a fight when Oliver pushed his colleague Hughes aside and other security officers wanted to intervene.

On March 5, 1977, the group arrived in Melbourne and were invited to a reception at City Hall. More than 6,000 people gathered outside to see ABBA on the balcony. These recordings can only be seen towards the end of the film, when reporter Ashley overslept his interview appointment and tries to get through the crowds to the group. The five concerts in Perth can often be seen in the finished film, as the relatively small number of viewers (8,000 per concert) offered the film crew a manageable location. The finished film shows excerpts from the mini-musical The Girl with the Golden Hair , which was performed at every performance on this tour, including the song Get On The Carousel , which was later not recorded in the studio.

Sweden

Although around 50 hours of footage were recorded in Australia, this only resulted in half of the planned 100-minute film. Some scenes therefore had to be shot in Sweden after the Australian tour. The work overlapped with the recordings for the group's next album, which began in late May 1977. In June 1977 Hughes and Oliver arrived in Stockholm, so that, among other things, the "dream scene" could be filmed, which was later underlaid with the new song The Name of the Game . The Drottningholm Palace Park served as the location . The scene in which the group is sitting in the hotel room with their bodyguard Tom Oliver and talking was actually filmed in Sweden in June 1977; at the Sheraton Hotel in Stockholm. Since Agnetha Fältskog was heavily pregnant at that time, she was only filmed shoulder-up or indirectly through a mirror. The headline “Agnetha's Bottom Tops Show” can be read in a newspaper that Andersson holds (“Agnetha's bottom: high point of the show”). However, it should read: "Agnetha's Bottom Tops Dull Show" ("Agnetha's Po: the climax of the boring show"). Andersson intentionally covered the word Dull with his thumb.

Further filming took place in the summer of 1977 on Djurgårdsbrunnskanalen and in the surrounding area, where, among other things, the boat trip was filmed, on which reporter Ashley converses amicably with the ABBA members while they are followed by reporters. The scene in which Ashley plays golf with the band was also shot here, while the one for the song Eagle was shot in the main building of Sveriges Television . The production team used the so-called “Flutter Box” for the scenes for the song Eagle , with which an elevator ride could be simulated. Although computer effects were only just beginning to be developed in the 1970s, these scenes are already of astonishing quality. Editing of the film only started in July 1977, so the actual release date in October had to be postponed to the end of the year. The final title ABBA - The Movie was given to the film to make a reference to the title ABBA - The Album of their new LP. There were even plans to release a double album , one record of which would consist of live versions from their tour.

Reviews

"ABBA is very rarely embarrassing: when a spectacle on stage is supposed to replace the missing musical substance. Sometimes amusing: during the interviews of a fictional reporter with ABBA fans. What they love about ABBA is reflected in this unobtrusive, self-deprecating film, which is so harmless that its mistakes are not too serious. "

- Die Zeit , February 24, 1978

Track list

  • Tiger (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus)
  • SOS (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus)
  • Money, Money, Money (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus)
  • He Is Your Brother (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus)
  • Intermezzo No. 1 (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus)
  • Waterloo (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Stig Anderson)
  • Mamma Mia (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Stig Anderson)
  • Rock Me (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus)
  • I've Been Waiting for You (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Stig Anderson)
  • The Name of the Game (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Stig Anderson)
  • Why Did It Have to Be Me? (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus)
  • When I Kissed the Teacher (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus)
  • Get on the Carousel (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus)
  • I'm a Marionette (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus)
  • Fernando (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus)
  • Dancing Queen (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Stig Anderson)
  • So Long (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus)
  • Eagle (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus)
  • Thank You for the Music (Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus)

Individual evidence

  • Carl Magnus Palm: Light and Shadow. ABBA - The real story. Bosworth Edition, 2006, paperback edition, 638 pages. ISBN 3-86543-100-3
  1. ↑ a b p. 427
  2. ↑ p. 378
  3. ↑ a b p. 379
  4. ↑ a b p. 380
  5. ↑ a b p. 382
  6. ↑ a b p. 385 f.
  7. ↑ p. 388 f.
  8. ↑ p. 393 f.
  9. ↑ p. 396
  10. ↑ p. 407
  11. ↑ p. 408
  12. ↑ p. 423
  • Sara Russell: The ABBA travel guide to Stockholm. Premium Publishing, Stockholm 2010, 155 pages. ISBN 978-91-89136-69-4
  1. ↑ p. 123
  2. ↑ p. 10 f.
  3. ↑ p. 108
  4. ↑ p. 73
  • Others
  1. ↑ Leif Schulman: Abba Release Dates Seek To Balk Parallel Imports. Billboard Magazine , Issue Nov. 26, 1977, p. 84
  2. ↑ FilmtipPrograms Time , February 24, 1978

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