L%C3%B8vejagten

Lvejagten Danish for the lion hunt, English title The Lion Hunt was a controversial 1907 silent film by Danish producer Ole Olsen and director Viggo Larsen. The short tenminute movie caused an enormous public protest in Denmark because it depicted the actual shooting of two captive lions.

The tenminute jungle movie 215 meters of 35mm film was actually filmed on location in Denmark. Scenes of the hunters in the forest were shot in Jgersborg Dyrehave park near Copenhagen. The animals were filmed at the Copenhagen Zoo with the camera aimed downward to avoid any view of the enclosures. The controversial shooting of two lions took place on the small island of Elleore in the Roskilde fjord.In the summer of 1907, Ole Olsen decorated Elleore with palm fronds and artificial plants to simulate a tropical savanna. He then bought two elderly lions from the Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg, Germany for the large sum of 5000 deutschmarks. When the Danish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals learned about Olsens plan to shoot the lions for his movie, they protested to the Danish Minister of Justice Peter Adler Alberti. Alberti banned the filming. Two days later, however, Olsen defiantly shot the scenes as planned, then smuggled the film to Sweden. Olsens cinematographer, Axel Graatkjr, was arrested and spent a day in jail. At a court hearing, Alberti banned the movie in Denmark and revoked Olsens license for his Biograf Theater. ........

Source: Wikipedia