Mordets melodi carries a current of uneasiness, of danger and instability. But where did the darkness come from? American film noir or French poetic realism? It is a fact that director Bodil Ipsen directed Mordets melodi before American noirs were screened in Denmark. So maybe the darkness comes from within? The film tells a dark and eerie crime story about a serial-killer who strangles women – all named Sonja – to death. At each of the crime scenes, witnesses have heard a soft woman’s voice singing, so obviously suspicion gathers around cabaret singer Odette Margot (charismatic Gull-Maj Norin) because of her characteristic voice. The horrified Odette begins to wonder at her own guilt, and, assisted by police detective Baunsøe (Peter Nielsen) and lighting master Max (played by Danish heartthrob Poul Reichhardt) who has always loved Odette from afar, she attempts to unearth the truth. Dramatic, hypnotic and one of the most famous films of the period, Mordets melodi is populated by mysterious women, bizarre fates and horrific crimes all taking place in a seedy, constantly rainy and suspiciously shadowy Copenhagen. The film was based on a radio drama by Tavs Neiiendam, and even with the adaptation into moving pictures the use of sound remains remarkable: the same melody is played each night a woman is murdered, so becomes an ominous warning. One of only a small handful of noirs directed by a woman, Mordets melodi is directed by Bodil Ipsen, who later had the honour of having the Danish film critics’ award, the Bodil Award, named after her.

Sophie Engberg Sonne