Reviews

This series was the starting point for a great career for the director Leif Krantz. Kullamannen is clearly inspired by Hitchcock and the first four episodes end with real cliff-hangers emphasized by the great music by Charles Redland. It is amazing how well the series stands up today. The characters are interesting and the actors all make a good performance. Leif Krantz had a few years earlier worked as a director's assistant with "Vi på Saltkråkan" so he was used to work with children. An example of how thoroughly the series is made is this. Sweden changed to right-hand traffic in September 1967 but the recordings for Kullamannen started in May 1967. In order not to look obsolete when it was shown for the first time all roads used were closed and the recording team had strict orders that all cars seen in the movie had to drive on the right side.

This episode of Saltkråkan is by far the most entertaining one. Many classic moments are in this episode. Melker is at his "best" and tries to cook the fish but has some problems regarding the amount of salt. When he tries to install water pipes to the kitchen he faces a lot of bad luck and when he teaches Niclas and Johan how to fish his sons naturally get all the fish despite Melker's tactical tricks. Another highlight is when Pelle ruins everything for his big sister Malin's date Krister by watching over his sister and making innocent(?) but cruel remarks on Krister. Many of the lines in this episode have become classics and the recognition factor is high.