En natt på Glimmingehus

In the movie an art historian comes to the old medieval castle Glimmingehus in Sweden. He is there to try to uncover some whitewashed paintings on the walls of the building. At the ancient fortress, the historian also meets tourist guide Nils (played by Edvard Persson) and the sweet maid Maj. Neither of them is aware that two ghosts from the 16th century are eagerly watching their activities. They hope to finally be set free, but then the art historian must first lay bare the so-called "Green Madonna" at the neighboring castle.

The movie received a predominantly positive reception after its premiere in Stockholm in 1954. Several critics pointed out that Stig Dagerman, a highly respected writer in Sweden at the time, belonged to the team that collaborated on the script. But above all, the critics paid tribute to Edvard Persson, who (as usual) sang several numbers in the film. Persson's acting was also highly praised.

Edvard Persson must have been an odd figure in Scandinavian film. A severely overweight man with a difficult-to-understand dialect is not exactly what you associate with a beloved matinee idol. Nevertheless, Edvard Persson was for many years one of Sweden's, if not Scandinavia's, biggest movie stars.

But that was in the 1930s and 40s. When Edvard Persson filmed "A Night at Glimmingehus" his heyday had long since passed. At this stage of his career, he instead had to do what he could with various, paper-thin manuscripts. Despite that, he managed to perform most of the song and dance numbers his movies required.

And in "A Night at Glimmingehus" Edvard Persson received some help from fellow star Bibi Andersson. She later became one of Ingmar Bergman's personal favorites, but sadly Persson would not get to see that. He died just a few years after the film premiered.