Åsa-Nisse is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

literary character created by

Stig Cederholm Stig or STIG may refer to: People * Stig (given name) * Nickname of Robert Stigwood (1934–2016), musical act manager Arts and entertainment * The Stig, a masked racing driver on the UK television show ''Top Gear'' * Stig (singer), Finnish pe ...

. The character first appeared in the weekly magazine Tidsfördrif in 1944, and later in a series of 20 films, produced between 1949 and 1969. In 1960 it also became a comic series, which is still produced and published periodically in its own magazine. A new Åsa-Nisse film was released in 2011.

Concept

The character Åsa-Nisse, literally ''Nils on the Ridge'' or ''Ridge-Nisse'', is a somewhat elderly man living with his wife ''Eulalia'' on a farm in the countryside village of Knohult in

Småland Småland () is a historical province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means ''Small Lands''. The Latinized fo ...

. To the dismay of his wife, Åsa-Nisse never really seems to produce an honest days work, and instead his activities seem to focus on various antics where he is accompanied by his friend and side-kick ''Klabbarparn''. One of their favourite activities is poaching, while managing to stay one step ahead of the law, personified by the local policeman. Other characters include ''Knohultarn'' and ''Sjökvist'', the local merchant. Much of the humor, particularly in the original stories, is derived from the characters' peculiar dialect.

Adaptations

Comics

In 1944 the character was adapted into a comic strip drawn by Gösta Gummesson, with dialogue written by various authors including

Gits Olsson Git is a distributed version control system. Git, Gits or GIT may also refer to: Language * Git (pronoun), a pronoun in Old English * Git (slang), British slang for a contemptible person * Gitxsan language Entertainment * ''Git!'', a 1965 Ame ...

Bengt Linder Bengt Gunnar Sigurd Linder (26 July 1929 in Härnösand - 17 April 1985 in Lidingö) was a Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North German ...

Leif Bergendorff Leif is a male given name of Scandinavian origin. It is derived from the Old Norse name ''Leifr'' (nominative case), meaning "heir", "descendant". Use in the Nordic countries Spelling and prevalence Across the Nordic countries, the most com ...

Olle Nilsson Olov (or Olof) is a Swedish form of Olav/Olaf, meaning "ancestor's descendant". A common short form of the name is ''Olle''. The name may refer to: *Per-Olov Ahrén (1926–2004), Swedish clergyman, bishop of Lund from 1980 to 1992 *Per-Olov Bra ...

and Pidde Andersson.

Films

The character has also been adapted into a popular series of

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

comedy films. *''

Åsa-Nisse Åsa-Nisse is a Swedish literary character created by Stig Cederholm. The character first appeared in the weekly magazine Tidsfördrif in 1944, and later in a series of 20 films, produced between 1949 and 1969. In 1960 it also became a comic seri ...

'' (1949) *'' Åsa-Nisse Goes Hunting'' (1950) *''Åsa-Nisse på nya äventyr'' (1952) *''

Åsa-Nisse on Holiday ''Åsa-Nisse on Holiday'' (Swedish: ''Åsa-Nisse på semester'') is a 1953 Swedish comedy film directed by Ragnar Frisk and starring John Elfström, Artur Rolén and Helga Brofeldt.Nordic National Cinemas p.149 It was part of a long-running serie ...

'' (1953) *''Åsa-Nisse på hal is'' (1954) *''Åsa-Nisse ordnar allt'' (1955) *''Åsa-Nisse flyger i luften'' (1956) *''Åsa-Nisse i full fart'' (1957) *'' Åsa-Nisse in Military Uniform'' (1958) *''Åsa-Nisse jubilerar'' (1959) * '' Åsa-Nisse as a Policeman'' (1960) *''Åsa-Nisse bland grevar och baroner'' (1961) *''Åsa-Nisse på Mallorca'' (1962) *''Åsa-Nisse och tjocka släkten'' (1963) *''Åsa-Nisse i popform'' (1964) *''Åsa-Nisse slår till'' (1965) *''Åsa-Nisse i raketform'' (1966) *''Åsa-Nisse i agentform'' (1967) *''Sarons ros och gubbarna i Knohult'' (1968) *''Åsa-Nisse och den stora kalabaliken'' (1968) *''Åsa-Nisse i rekordform'' (1969) John Elfström portrayed Åsa-Nisse in 19 of the 20 films and Arthur Rolén played the side-kick Klabbarparn (Ågren) in 18. Brita Öberg played Åsa-Nisse's wife Eulalia and Mona Geijer-Falkner played Klabbarparn's wife Kristin. Fourteen of the films were directed by Ragnar Frisk. In ten of the films, Bertil Boo made an appearance as "the singing farmer". Kjell Bergqvist plays Åsa-Nisse in the 2011 reboot film '' Åsa-Nisse – wälkom to Knohult''. This is the first Åsa-Nisse film since 1969.

Musical

The novels have also been adapted into a stage musical.

Reputation

While the 19 film sequels are a testament to Åsa-Nisse's popularity the movies have always been panned by critics both then and now. Some even see it as a low point in Swedish cinema that works as a stark contrast to

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known ...

's work of the same period. Their style of humour is now out of fashion but re-runs are still frequent on TV and they have been released on VHS and DVD.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asa-Nisse Swedish novels Novels adapted into comics Swedish novels adapted into films Swedish novels adapted into plays Swedish comic strips Comics based on novels Swedish comics characters Male characters in comics Swedish comedy films Male characters in literature Male characters in film Comedy film characters Literary characters introduced in 1944 Fictional Swedish people Fictional farmers Fictional hunters