DEADLINE (den/swe 1971)

Last night I watched a Danish/Swedish disaster movie called DEADLINE. Yes, I said *Danish/Swedish disaster movie*!!! No, I didn't know they made any of those in Scandinavia either but apparently they did!

DEADLINE is from 1971 and directed by Stellan Olsson. My buddy Nils Markvardsen told me it was screened at the Cinemateque in Copenhagen last year but the print was cut! There's an upload of the film on YouTube and the uploader states the film is complete but my VHS runs almost 10 minutes longer (approx 104 minutes, not 97 as mentioned on the cover!). I would assume my tape is u/c but who knows. The Danish tape has the Swedish dialogue subbed. The upload on YT is off a Swedish tape and has no subs.

The film is a slowburn if I ever saw one but it grabs you all the way through and never gets dull. The Danish video cover promises a nuclear disaster movie but it's nothing of that sort. The liner-note author obviously wanted to spur interest by referring to a fictional nuclear plant disaster (as it was a hot topic in Denmark in the 70s and 80s because Sweden placed a nuclear plant 20 k's from the Danish capital).

The film is about a plane that crashes in the ocean close to Sweden and a toxic agent poisons a close-by village. The government seals off the town; calls in the army to shoot people who try and leave, and puts a cover on the whole bloody mess.
I have no idea if DEADLINE ever played outside of Scandinavia or if there were other VHS releases. I can't find any info of a DVD release. The music throughout the film is by a band called Pan.

Recommended for at least the one viewing.