''491'' is a 1964

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 ...

black-and-white

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Vilgot Sjöman David Harald Vilgot Sjöman (2 December 1924 – 9 April 2006) was a Swedish writer and film director. His films deal with controversial issues of social class, morality, and sexual taboos, combining the emotionally tortured characters of Ingm ...

, based on a novel by . The story is about a group of youth criminals who are chosen to participate in a

social experiment A social experiment is a type of Psychology, psychological or Sociology, sociological research for testing people's reactions to certain situations or events. The experiment depends on a particular social approach where the main source of inform ...

in which they are assigned to live together in an apartment while being supervised by two forgiving social workers. The film's tagline is: "It is written that 490 times you can sin and be forgiven. This motion picture is about the 491st." This controversial film, which featured a male

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

rape scene, was first banned in Sweden, but was rereleased after reediting. One of the excised scenes depicted a woman being

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

d by a dog. The film was also banned in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

until 1971. The reactions from especially conservative circles in Sweden were of disgust and outrage, and the outrage was among the reasons why the

Christian Democratic Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

was founded in 1964.

Cast

* as Krister * as Nisse * as Egon * as Pyret *

Sven Algotsson Sven (in Danish and Norwegian, also Svend and also in Norwegian most commonly Svein) is a Scandinavian first name which is also used in the Low Countries and German-speaking countries. The name itself is Old Norse for "young man" or "young w ...

as Jingis * Torleif Cederstrand as Butcher * Bo Andersson as Fisken *

Lena Nyman Anna Lena Elisabet Nyman (23 May 1944 – 4 February 2011) was a Swedish film and stage actress. Having had her first film roles in 1955, Nyman had a role in Vilgot Sjöman's '' 491'' (1964) and got her breakthrough in his ''I Am Curious (Yel ...

as Steva *

Frank Sundström Frank Sundström (16 January 1912 – 8 November 1993) was a Swedish actor. He appeared in more than 30 films and television shows between 1933 and 1989. In 1948 he played the lead in the American film '' Song of My Heart''. Selected filmo ...

as Inspector *

Åke Grönberg Karl Åke Edvard Grönberg (26 March 1914 – 15 September 1969) was a Swedish film actor who appeared in nearly 100 films. Grönberg was a versatile stage personality of his day, performing as a singer, variety artist, actor, in musical show ...

as Reverend Mild * as Kajsa * as Tester *

Siegfried Wald Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...

as German Sailor *

Willem Fricke Willem () is a Dutch and West FrisianRienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), , p. 158. masculine given name. The name is Germanic, and can be seen as the Dutch equivalent of the name William in English, ...

Wilhelm Fricke Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mount ...

as German Sailor *

Erik Hell Erik Hell (11 August 1911 – 11 March 1973) was a Swedish actor. Hell was born in Kalliokoski, Finland, to a Norwegian father and a Finnish mother. He moved to Sweden with his family in 1918 during the Finnish Civil War. He married the actre ...

as Policeman * Leif Liljeroth as Policeman

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:491 (Film) 1964 films 1964 LGBT-related films Swedish black-and-white films 1960s Swedish-language films Films based on Swedish novels Films directed by Vilgot Sjöman Swedish LGBT-related films Films shot in Sweden 1964 drama films LGBT-related drama films Film censorship in Sweden Film censorship in Norway Film controversies in Sweden Film controversies in Norway LGBT-related controversies in film Obscenity controversies in film Animal cruelty incidents in film 1960s Swedish films