MANDEN DER TAENKTE TING

(vt The Man who Thought Life)

   Film (1969). Asa Film/Palladium. Dir Jens Ravn, starring Preben Neergaard, John Price, Lotte Tarp. Screenplay Henrik Stangerup, based on Manden der Taenkte Ting (1938) by Valdemar Holst. 97 mins. B/w.

   This Danish fantasy tells of a man who can create objects - even people - by force of will. Anything he brings into existence has only a short life, so he goes to a doctor and asks for a brain operation to perfect his power. The doctor refuses, so the man creates a duplicate doctor who takes over his original's career and wife and ultimately performs the necessary operation, in so doing killing his creator. Interestingly photographed, this comedy, Ravn's first film, presentsphilosophical points about reality of the kind made familiar by Philip K. DICK.

   JB/PN