Tancred Ibsen (11 July 1893 – 4 December 1978) was a
Norwegian military officer
An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service.
Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...
,
aviator
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...
,
film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
and
screenwriter
A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...
.
Background
Ibsen was the son of
Sigurd Ibsen and
Bergljot Bjørnson. He was the grandson of both
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...
and Nobel laureate
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...
. He married dancer and actress
Lillebil Ibsen in 1919, and remained married to her until his death in 1978. His son
Tancred Ibsen Jr. (1921–2015) was a Norwegian diplomat.
Aviation career
In 1917, Tancred Ibsen started pilot training at
Kjeller Airport and began his career in the
Norwegian Army Air Service. He started the first civilian active airplane company, ''
A/S Aero'' in 1920, financed by his uncle, businessman Einar Bjørnson, and two shipowners. The company successfully operated demonstration, advertising, and limited mail flights with Ibsen as the head pilot. The company also chartered airplanes to the
Det Norske Luftfartrederi routes in southern Norway. The activity of ''A/S Aero'' ended, with the company becoming part of the aircraft factory ''A/S Norske Aeroplanfabrik'' in
Tønsberg
Tønsberg (), historically Tunsberg, is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located about south-southwest of the capital city of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near ...
.
Film career
A 1923 trip to New York and a screening of
D.W. Griffith's ''
Orphans of the Storm'' inspired Ibsen with the potential of filmmaking. He spent the next two years in Los Angeles, working at
Metro Goldwyn Mayer as a handyman, electrician, and finally in the script department.
Ibsen's return to Norway and directoral debut in 1931 was Norway's first feature-length sound film, ''Den store barnedåpen''. Through the 1930s he would "dominate" the nation's film industry, together with
Leif Sinding
Leif Sinding (19 November 1895 – 13 May 1985) was a Norwegian film director and journalist.
He worked for the newspapers ''Verdens Gang (1868–1923), Verdens Gang'', ''Aftenposten'', and ''Morgenbladet''. Among his silent films are ''Himme ...
(1895–1985). Ibsen produced conventional melodramas more or less on the model of Hollywood films. In 1940, he returned to active military service against
Operation Weserübung
Operation Weserübung ( , , 9 April – 10 June 1940) was the invasion of Denmark and Norway by Nazi Germany during World War II. It was the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign.
In the early morning of 9 April 1940 (, "Weser Day"), Ge ...
but continued to produce films through 1942.
After the war, Ibsen took on the project ''To mistenkelige personer'' (1950), based on a 1933 book by
Gunnar Larsen about a real-life 1926 killing. The completed film was banned by the
Supreme Court of Norway, based on the privacy rights of one of the figures in the real-life killing, still alive.
Second World War
Ibsen was arrested on 17 August 1943 during the
Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...
. He was
imprisoned in
Schildberg and then
Luckenwalde
Luckenwalde (; Upper Sorbian language, Upper and , , ) is the capital of the Teltow-Fläming district in the state of Brandenburg in eastern Germany. It is situated on the Nuthe river north of the Fläming Heath, at the eastern rim of the Nuthe-Ni ...
until the
camp was liberated.
Selected filmography
* 1931: ''
Den store barnedåpen'' (director)
**The first Norwegian
talkie
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befo ...
* 1933: ''Men with Brooms'' (writer, director)
* 1934: ''Op med hodet'' (writer, director), his wife Lillibel Ibsen starred in this play
* 1934: ''Synnøve Solbakken'' (director), based on the novel written by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
* 1935: ''
Kanske en gentleman'' (director)
* 1935: ''Du har lovet meg en kone'' (writer, director, editor)
* 1936: ''Ä vi gifta?'' (director)
* 1936: ''
Poor Millionaires'' (director)
* 1936: ''
The Ghost of Bragehus'' (director)
* 1937: ''
Fant'' (director)
* 1937: ''
To levende og en død'' (writer, director, editor)
* 1939: ''
Whalers'' (director)
* 1939: ''
Gjest Baardsen'' (writer, director)
* 1940: ''
Tørres Snørtevold'' (director)
* 1942: ''
The Dangerous Game'' (director)
* 1948: ''The Private Apartment'' (writer, director)
* 1950: ''
To mistenkelige personer'' (writer, director)
**Forbidden to be shown in public by the
Supreme Court of Norway in 1952, legalized and published in 2007
*1951: ''
Storfolk og småfolk'' (writer, director)
*1952: ''Oslo 1952: The VI Olympic Winter Games'' (director)
**Official video of the
1952 Winter Olympics, held in Oslo, Norway
* 1960: ''
Venner'' (director)
* 1963: ''The Wild Duck'' (director), written by Henrik Ibsen
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibsen, Tancred
1893 births
1978 deaths
Tancred
Norwegian aviators
Norwegian film directors
Norwegian comedy film directors
Norwegian Army Air Service personnel of World War II
World War II prisoners of war held by Germany
Norwegian prisoners of war in World War II
20th-century Norwegian screenwriters