Since we’re in the holiday season, I think this is the ideal time to share one of the most fascinating Christmas TV traditions from my neighbor country of Norway: Rock ‘n Roll Wolf.
Rock ‘n Roll Wolf, also known as Mama, is a live action musical movie from 1976. It’s a Romanian-Soviet-French co-production, and in fact three different version, with the same plot, songs and actors were filmed, in three different languages: Romanian, Russian and English. It’s based on a Romanian fairytale, and is about a goat mother (named Rada in the film), who’s trying to protect her kids from a big bad wolf (named Titi Suru), by telling them that they can only open the door to their house if she sings a special song for them: “Mommy’s Home”.
The English version of the film was broadcast on Norwegian television for the first time in 1982 (with the Norwegian title “Med Grimm og gru”), and while the first broadcast was during easter, it later on began to be broadcast each Christmas, becoming a Norwegian holiday tradition (though the film itself doesn’t really have a Christmas theme, aside from maybe the finale of it taking place during winter).
I have watched the English version of the film myself a few times in recent years, and while it might be classified as a “cult classic”, it’s not, in my opinion, a “so bad it’s good” film, but actually a genuinely good movie, with fun songs, beautiful costumes, good acting, and some spectacular dance numbers (probably not unsurprising considering that many cast members were Russian ballet dancers). Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find any high-definition versions of the English movie online, the best I’ve found is this recording of a Norwegian broadcast, which is at least pretty okay:
There is, however, another fascinating aspect to the popularity of Rock ‘N Roll Wolf in Norway, beyond the quality of the film. I first became aware of the movie when I was reading the Norwegian newspaper comic strip Nemi by Lise Myhre. It’s mentioned in the following strip (I’ve provided an English translation below it):
Panel 1: “Don’t you remember the musical that used to be shown on NRK* around easter? About the sheep mother who sings to her children that they shouldn’t let strangers in? Mommy’s home, now you can open the door...”
Panel 2: “All women my age remembers it. The wicked wolf triggered our first sexual impulses. He has animal magnetism. Oops! Am I drooling?”
Panel 3: “Do you know what kind of self-esteem you get from being jealous of a pipe-smoking wolf with a mullet and trucker mustache?”
“Oh my god. You mean Titi Suru. I want to have his puppies.”
* NRK = Norsk rikskrinkastning (“Norwegian Broadcasting”), the Norwegian state-owned radio and television public broadcasting company.
I did some research after reading this strip, and apparently the attractiveness of Titi Suru wasn’t just a joke made up by Myhre for her comic, it’s something that I’ve seen mentioned by several different Norwegian sources as well. And honestly?
Yeah, I can see it. A still image of Titi Suru doesn’t do him justice, you really need to seem him prancing and dancing around in that tight black bodysuit, and singing in his distinctive voice, to truly appreciate how charismatic he is. The way he interacts with Rada is also pretty interesting; Despite the two of them being enemies, there seems to be some flirting going on in both directions. I can definitely see how someone might “ship” them, and I’ve seen several Norwegians noting this attraction as well.
In fact, it seems that Rock ‘N Roll Wolf has had a pretty big influence on the Norwegian popular consciousness. I have found several different Norwegian musicians who have recorded their own versions of “Mommy’s Home” in different music genres. Even more interestingly, there have been a number of different Norwegian stage adaptations of the film, with one in particular that uses the characters and songs to tell a somewhat different story. Here’s a description I found of the plot of this version:
“The Goat Mother takes her mother role seriously. She is the sole provider and dutiful mother to her kids. But deep down she dreams about excitement, wildness and rock ‘n roll. She can’t find it in the controlled life she lives among pigs, sheep and other boring domestic animals. But the Wolf has what she’s looking for. He is wild, unpredictable and dangerously handsome. What if she for once allowed herself to be a little irresponsible? Just a little tiny flirt with the wolf…?”
And some images from this stage adaptation, which does seem to suggest that this is indeed a very different take on the movie:
I will end this post by saying that I’m not Norwegian myself, I only came across the film by chance and tried to dig into its history as much as I could. If there are any Norwegians reading this, I would love to hear your opinions on Rock ‘N Roll Wolf. Did Titi Suru light the fire of passion in you, or is it all just a joking exaggeration?
