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 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 Provinces of Sweden, 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 la ...

. To the dismay of his wife, Åsa-Nisse never really seems to produce an honest day's 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 Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the huntin ...

, 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, Bengt Linder, Leif Bergendorff, Olle Nilsson 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'' (1949) *''

Åsa-Nisse Goes Hunting ''Åsa-Nisse Goes Hunting'' (Swedish: ''Åsa-Nisse på jaktstigen'') is a 1950 Swedish comedy film directed by Ragnar Frisk and starring John Elfström, Artur Rolén and Helga Brofeldt.Krawc p.474 It was the second film in the long-running � ...

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

Åsa-Nisse on Holiday 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 ser ...

'' (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 ''Åsa-Nisse in Military Uniform'' (Swedish: ''Åsa-Nisse i kronans kläder'') is a 1958 Swedish comedy film directed by Ragnar Frisk and starring John Elfström, Artur Rolén and Brita Öberg.Krawc p.473 It was shot at the Täby Studios in St ...

'' (1958) *''Åsa-Nisse jubilerar'' (1959) * ''

Åsa-Nisse as a Policeman ''Åsa-Nisse as a Policeman'' (Swedish: ''Åsa-Nisse som polis'') is a 1960 Swedish comedy film directed by Ragnar Frisk and starring John Elfström, Artur Rolén and Brita Öberg.Wredlund p.229 It was shot at the Täby Studios in Stockholm. T ...

'' (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 Ragnar Frisk (1902–1984) was a Swedish film director.Historical Dictionary of Scandinavian Cinema p.102 He was known for his comedy film, comedies, including the Åsa-Nisse series of films. Selected filmography * ''A Cruise in the Albertina'' ( ...

. In ten of the films, Bertil Boo made an appearance as "the singing farmer".

Kjell Bergqvist Kjell Bertil Leonard Bergqvist (born 23 February 1953) is a Swedish actor. Bergqvist finished the Royal Dramatic Training Academy in 1973 and made his debut in '' En enkel melodi'' and ''Jack''. He has since cooperated for many years with scr ...

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 Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

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 and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...

'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 VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

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 animal hunters Novels set on farms Comics set on farms Plays set on farms Films set on farms