“We had to be careful.” The Self-imposed Regulations, Alterations and Censorship Strategies of Nordisk Films Kompagni 1911-1928

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article addresses the strategies that the Danish film company Nordisk Films Kompagni adopted from the early 1910s in order to satisfy the censorship demands of different markets, and also the strategies of self-regulation the company practiced in order to reach as large and as culturally-differentiated an audience as possible. Nordisk’s business relied on the international markets; only a small percentage of its production was sold to the domestic market, and in order to maintain the export levels, Nordisk devised very explicit strategies for the kinds of films the company would make. These strategies included among other things the creation of guidelines for scripts accepted by the company, alternative endings made for the same film to please the varying tastes of audiences in different countries, and the circulation of information that derived from the company’s branches and agents about the censorship rules in individual countries to Nordisk’s stock company of writers and directors, to help them in preparing their films for production.