The Spider

Over the past couple of years, MHz has been releasing hitherto unknown programs from Scandinavian TV. One of the more intriguing exports is this 2000 six-episode Danish noir-style thriller, set in 1949 Copenhagen, where the postwar period has not brought any evidence of prosperity or stability. Gangsters operate a lucrative black market empire, and to the uninitiated it looks as if 1920s Chicago has come back to life in the Danish capital. For young journalist Bjarne Madsen (Jakob Cedergren), a great story waits to be told; but his newspaper is not eager to unleash Bjarne for this assignment, as they already have a well-regarded crime reporter, H.C. Vissing (Bent Mejding)—but he's not eager to expose underworld chicanery. Needless to say, Bjarne charts his own course and begins to unravel the criminal networks while also ferreting out the political benefactor that enables Danish gangsters to control the city. In the process, he also falls in love with a captivating singer, Lisbeth Gordan (Stine Stengade)—as does his brother, Ole (Lars Mikkelsen). Director Ole Christian Madsen keeps the action moving at a crisp pace, and the visual style and tough-edged acting clearly owe more than a little to the film noir genre that defined Hollywood's postwar output. Recommended. (P. Hall)