Pål Bang-Hansen was born in Oslo, the capital of Norway. The son of
author Odd Bang-Hansen (who also worked as a film critic in the 1950s)
he would from childhood be as much a part of the Norwegian film
industry, as the industry would be a part of him. At the age of 12 he
played the scene-stealing role of 'Sofus' in "Gategutter", directed by
Arne Skouen. A slice-of-life story about a group of boys in the
working-class section of Oslo, it went on to become one of the greatest
Norwegian movie classics. Notably it was also the first film by Skouen
who went on to become the greatest Norwegian filmmaker of his
generation, even earning an Academy Award nomination for 1957's "Ni
liv". By this time young Bang-Hansen was himself bitten by the
movie-bug and got himself into the Centro Sperimentale Film School in
Rome, Italy (as a result of this he is today fluent in Italian).
From 1961 to 1967 Bang-Hansen worked as a film critic for the Oslo
news-paper Arbeiderbladet (the same paper as his father). At the same
time he worked as an assistant director on several Arne
Skouen-productions. Bang Hansen's feature film directorial debut came
in 1966 with "Skrift i sne". He went on to direct some of the best
Norwegian movies until his last film in 1979; the thriller "Douglas"
(1970), the comedy "Norske byggeklosser" (1971) which today is regarded
as one of the most popular Norwegian comedies ever made, the drama
"Kanarifuglen" (co-starring international star Julie Ege), the thriller
"Bortreist på ubestemt tid" and "Kronprinsen", a political drama that
would earn actor Bjørn Sundquist the Norwegian Critics Award in his
first feature film. Sundquist went on to become the most prolific actor
in Norwegian film.
Despite his work as a director, Bang-Hansen is best known for his
career as a film-critic and -reporter. Especially since 1967, when he
was employed by the Norwegian National Broadcasting Corporation (NRK)
and introduced the public to something new: "Filmmagasinet", the first
Norwegian TV-show dedicated to the movies. Working in NRK into the next
century he was also recognized for his reports from the Cannes Film
Festival which he has visited annually since the early 1960s. Meeting
and interviewing legends such as 'Alfred Hitchcock', 'Anthony Mann', Henry Fonda, Akira Kurosawa,
Charles Chaplin and many more, Bang-Hansen has become a well-known face to many
industry people at the French film festival. So famous is his role on
TV to generations of Norwegians that many of them aren't even aware of
his past as a director and screenwriter.
His career as a film-maker however, deserves mentioning as he delivered
a quality that was very rare to Norwegian cinema in the 1970s: he made
movies for the public. Norwegian cinema in the 1970s and 80s is often
looked upon as an era filled with boring, artistic dramas lacking in
both plot and credible acting, loathed by both the public and the
critics. At this time Bang-Hansen would deliver the opposite; exciting
thrillers, credible dramas and even a crazy comedy that would become a
smash-hit at the box-office. A feat for which to this day he has sadly
achieved very little recognition. Thanks to his long-running
"Filmmagasinet" on TV, he is, however, today regarded by every
Norwegian as its nation's one and only "Mr Film".
