Derailed (Afsporet)

Denmark, 1942, 106 mins, Danish with funky English subtitles
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Contemporary directors strive to make us forget we’re watching a film. But ‘Derailed’ is a mesmerizing old black and white movie whose lurid delights make us remember the magic of cinema. A lost waif last seen wandering off in “a dark afternoon dress, a grey fur coat and small grey hat” as described by police, walks down underworldly stone steps to the dark harbour as in a dream, into our dreams. She sits down—“I’m so tired”—and finds sanctuary in a den of thieves presided over by a one-legged Bible-quoting old man. A handsome bad boy is meanwhile released from prison. What a beautifully executed sequence as he emerges from the prison door then walks along a path to be greeted warmly by a friend. The scene is wordless like a silent movie. The two men walk on side by side then stop to light up fags and walk on, trailing smoke. Without a word we feel their love and friendship.

After an extremely daring cat-fight between two whores in high-heels tumbling around in simulation of rough lesbian sex, the bad boy comes through the door of the den of thieves to be ecstatically greeted. So fate brings the two together with the introductory words, “Princess, this is Janus, back from his estate on the moon.” The amnesiac girl gazes into his eyes with total conviction, and the bad boy is lost. He homes in on her with a flashlight like a robber in the night. They’re happy but you know this film noir won’t end well. A happy ending a la The Graduate—“Elaine! Elaine!” & the bus ride—would’ve been truly subversive. (Alice Skinhead)

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Director : Bodil Ipsen
Cinematographer : Rundolf Frederiksen, Alf Schnéevoigt
Editor : Marie Ejlersen
Writter : Sven Rindom, Karl Schlüter (play)
Music : Sven Gyldmark, Peter Deutsch
Producer : Aage Stentoft, Henning Karmark
Cast : Illona Wieselmann, Ebbe Rode, Johannes Meyer, Ib Schønberg
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