Monday 2 June 2008

Pop Foto, November 1977: ABBA Film-Special

A special magazine, dedicated to ABBA-The Movie, that came with Dutch magazine Pop Foto in 1977.

Watch out! At the end of December it’s going to happen. That’s when the long-awaited, with millions of questions surrounded, but surely fantastic ABBA-movie will come to the Netherlands. What do I hear? December is so far way. You are right, that’s why Pop Foto is giving you this wonderful special, full of exclusive pictures from the ABBA-movie. All for free!

Well, you know the deal. An exciting spy-movie, or a movie filled with horrifying scenes you don’t have to expect from ABBA. But what to expect? First of all, a documentary of the ABBA-tour in Australia, with stage-performances and of course many ABBA-hits. And in between, fairy-tale, romantic scenes, that come from dreams. Dreams about ABBA...

If there is one country, where ABBA is really immensely popular, then it is Australia. Just imagine, such a huge country, with millions of families. And still, every family has at least one ABBA-album in their household. No wonder the ABBA-story, or The girl with the golden hair, which was the official working title of the movie, was taped in Australia for the most part, but of course in Sweden as well. Director Lars Hallström and his crew followed Annifrid, Agnetha, Benny and Björn throughout Australia. Hallström’s cameras shot miles of film during the eleven concerts ABBA did in Australia. Concerts that were attended by no less than one-hundred sixty-thousand screaming and yelling fans. In between the stage-performances and all the ABBA-hits there’s the storyline of an Australian disc-jockey, played by Robert Hughes, that wants to land an exclusive interview with ABBA, no matter what.
But it’s not that easy. No matter how he tries, poor Robert doesn’t even come close to the heroes from Stockholm. Robert doesn’t give up. He follows ABBA everywhere. But each time Björn, Benny, Annifrid and Agnetha manage to shake him off. No wonder Robert Hughes finally escapes in a dream-world. In those dreams, he is experiencing the most fantastic adventures together with ABBA.
He is dreaming he is defeating ABBA in an Australian golf tournament, that he is invited by the four to a picnic in the countryside, and even that he is being pampered by Agnetha and Annifrid during an interview. All these scenes have been filmed by Lars Hallström in a romantic setting. Just like the scene in which Robert, together with ‘fairytale-queens’ Annifrid and Agnetha, is taking a horse-ride in a green meadow. Or the scene in which he is celebrating the success of the Australian tour with the four ABBA-members at a brightly lit dinner-table, surrounded by shiny golden candles.
But too bad for our hero, each time his dreams get disturbed by reality. And reality is, that Benny, Björn, Annifrid and Agnetha don’t want anything to do with him.
For almost six weeks Lars Hallström and his crew were busy filming. From all those miles and miles of film, he has a made a ninety-minute movie. A movie not to be missed by any true ABBA-fan!





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