IN THE SIGN OF THE LION

(A.k.a. I LOVENS TEGN)

The film opens on a sunny afternoon in 1934. Elderly sisters Rosa (Sigrid Horne-Rasmussen) and Soffy (Else Petersen) sit in the garden of their stately manor typing the latest chapter of their unpublished family memoirs.

Postman Rasmussen (Karl Stegger) arrives with the latest letter from a prospective publisher. As Rasmussen playfully teases the women for writing material no-one is interested in reading, they open the publisher's letter and realise he's right: it is another rejection, suggesting that the ladies must write something more sexual if they hope for their work to get published. Rasmussen argues that this will be impossible as Rosa and Soffy have never had a "real man". On the contrary, they proceed to tell him via flashback about how they met sexy Count Johan (William Kisum) in their youth ...

Via flashback we witness the two women as young ladies arriving at the Count's castle, where they were delivered to him as servants. A renowned nymphomaniac, Johan promptly inspected the girls' private parts and then retired them to his bedroom for a spirited threesome.

Back in the present tense, Rasmussen can't believe what he's hearing ... but urges the ladies to write about their sexual exploits. They agree to do so, but swear the postman to silence. However, Rasmussen soon blabs about these past exploits when he visits the Count's ancestor, the puritanical Hubert (Ib Mossin).

When Hubert races round to the old dears' home to confront them about their storytelling, we learn that he was not all that innocent in his youth either ... as the flashbacks continue, we see how he too liked a bit of the old rumpy-pumpy.

After a few more soft-focus flashbacks, Rosa and Soffy's manuscript "In The Sign Of The Lion" is sent to a publisher, the cigar-chewing Anton (Paul Bundgaard). Anton finds the book highly amusing and is desperate to publish it. But first, he wants to meet the author.

Anton and his pretty blonde assistant Karin (Lizzi Varenke) swiftly drive out to the old ladies' address and confront Rosa and Soffy, asking to be led to the sexy filly who wrote the book. Thinking fast, Soffy bestows the credit upon their unwitting nephew Tony (Ole Soltoft).

At that precise moment, Rasmussen turns up with a postcard from Tony, announcing that he is coming to visit his aunts in a week's time. Anton excitedly insists on meeting Tony, arranging to publish the novel and host a press conference in the meantime. Everything happens so quickly that Rosa and Soffy barely have a second to contemplate how Tony will take to this news ...

That week, the book becomes a best-seller overnight. Tony first learns of this when a female fan recognises his face from the back of the novel and seduces him in his train carriage on his way to his aunts' ...

Tony does indeed begrudgingly go along with the old ladies' plan, which allows for an increasing farce to escalate in-between the ongoing excerpts from their book told by way of flashbacks.

LION is an engagingly silly film that benefits from endearing performances from its older cast, plus the ever-agreeable Soltoft bumbling wide-eyed through one comical bawdy encounter after another.

The one-liners take great delight in being "rude", albeit in such a manner that is decidedly quaint in this day and age. Some sight gags (facial reactions; slapstick) are very much of the Benny Hill/Carry On variety but, by and large, the film has more decorum than either of those.

Some stunning interior locations and sumptuous Eastmancolor photography make for a frequently beautiful film. Director Werner Hedman has a keen eye for lighting and composition, taking time to make most scenes dazzle while never allowing the slick pace to falter. The period details are the icing on the cake.

Performances are highly strung and affable throughout, adding to the manic pace along with the snappy dialogue. Even a couple of surreal, Bunuel-esque dance scenes manage to keep the kettle boiling nicely with a visual vibrancy that matches the cast's infectious energy elsewhere.

As a slice of erotica, the film comes well equipped with a bevy of attractive young woman (the young Rosa and Soffy are portrayed by Ann-Marie Berglund and Anne Magle respectively) who get naked at regular intervals.

Sex is often mixed with humour which keeps events from ever feeling "dirty", and it's a curious mix of softcore scenes and brief harder couplings. Explicit penetration, blowjobs and female masturbation are present, but are relatively short scenes for the most part. Indeed, it looks like they could have been edited in during post-production, although some of the female cast are undoubtedly involved in acts such as fellatio ...

A mean-spirited episode towards the end involving a beating and a last-minute twist that acts as nothing more than a daft afterthought do little to dampen the simple enjoyment to be had here. Fast-paced, funny and easy on the eye, it's difficult not to warm to LION.

The film is presented uncut complete with hardcore scenes, in a pleasingly vivid 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer. Colours are strong, images are bright and detail is relatively sharp in this welcome print that exhibits only minor grain and specks.

The original Danish 2.0 audio holds up well too in a clear and consistent playback. Optional English subtitles are easy to read and free from obvious errors.

An animated main menu page is suitably gaudy and features a montage of scenes from the film set to energetic light music. This leads into an animated scene-selection menu which allows access to the film via 12 chapters.

The only extra on the disc is a stills gallery. This contains 31 grabs from the film over the course of 2-and-a-half minutes. Including some stills of a sexually explicit nature, this gallery is set to a jazzy score.

One of six entries in the TEGN/astronomy series of the 1970s, LION offers little of fresh persuasion but is at least an aesthetically pleasing mix of agreeable comedy and attractive sexcapades.

Review by Stu Willis