Abba Films &

This film was made at the height of their popularity in 1977. The film suffers from not being thought out and gives the impression that it was made up as it went along. Originally the idea was to make a documentary of their world tour. Somewhere along the line a very thin plot was hatched of a journalist following Abba around Australia when on tour to get an interview for a local radio station. The film concentrates more on the journalist and thin plot than on Abba. Very few real insights on Abba or what it was like to be on tour. It would have been better to have stuck to the original documentary format.

However, as the Abba members have always guarded their privacy perhaps this was not possible.

This was though a big opportunity missed for a historic record of Abba for future generations.

Swedish comedy that starred Agnetha as Lisa Mattsson. For more details on this film check out this excellent site which has the following sections:

Australian based film with heavy focus on Abba in soundtrack and within context of film. Muriel feels a bit of a plain Jane and is fed up of her life in Porpoise Spit, Australia. She spends most days alone listening to Abba music and dreaming of her wedding day although she has never had a date. She then steals some money to go on a tropical hoilday that changes her life.

Australian based film with heavy focus on Abba in soundtrack and within context of film. The film stars Terence Stamp (as a transexual) & Guy Pearce & Hugo Weaving (as drag queens). The three of them head to Alice Springs (a town in the middle of the desert) from Sydney to perform a cabaret gig on their lavender bus- Priscilla. On the journey to Alice Springs the bus brakes down, it is repaired by Bob who travels with them and they discover the woman they have contracted to perform for is Anthonys (Terence Stamps) wife. They then find out Anthony has a son and after the concert Anthony remains in Alice Springs with Bob while the others return to Sydney.

Both Muriels Wedding and Priscilla Queen of the Desert were partially responsible for the renewd interest in Abba in the 1990's.

Although not the first pop act to use video's Abba made the most of this format to promote their songs and in many ways were pioneers before the use of video was widespread. Most of their singles were promoted using quite memorable video's. The use of video clips was about to come into it's own at the time Abba burst on to the scene. Video was used by them as a promotion tool as they couldn't physically visit everywhere in person to promote their songs. Another contributing factor was that Agnetha did not like touring, promoting or travelling.

Abba Gold (1992)- The video of the greatest hits album of the same name. (78mins)

Forever Gold (1992/93) (1996) This is a combined version of Abba Gold and More Abba Gold.

ABBA - Live In Concert 52 Minutes live action from the 1979 tour. The Laserdiscs are just called "ABBA In Concert

For more information and detail on video clips visit Abba songs who have a useful section with extra detail.

The official Abba site has clips of the following videos: Chiqitita, Dancing Queen, Does Your Mother Know, Fernando, Gimme Gimme Gimme, He Is your Brother, I Have A Dream, Knowing Me Knowing You, Lay All Your Love On Me, Mamma Mia, Money Money Money, Name of the Game, One of Us, Rock Me, Sos, Super Trouper, Take a Chance On Me, Thank you for the Music, Winner Takes it All, Waterloo, When I Kissed the Teacher, Voulez Vous.

The following list of videos was kindly sent to me by Klaus-Peter Berg from the ABBA Information Database at the Music Museum in Stockholm. Which I have included in a lightly edited list.

THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL

Vision Video VVL 0538313 (1999)
A TV documentary from the UK which has been shown in many European countries. This 90 minute version with appearances by all ABBA members shows interviews with music business people, ABBA fans and scenes from the rehearsals of the musicals written by B & B.

ABBA: THE COLLECTION

Polygram Video 058 744-3 (1999)
Songs from ABBA The Movie, ABBA Live In Concert and some of the studio clips were mixed with an interesting interview with Björn. This cassette was only available as part of a box set together with three CDs and a booklet from the teleshopping company Insight.

ESSENTIAL STOCKHOLM

The first, complete ABBA fan's guide to the city Northern Lights Productions (1998)
This video is an excellent city guide for ABBA fans showing many places known from ABBA's record covers plus a Polar Studio tour with Michael B. Tretow, many sightseeing hints and tourist infos, some rare solo TV appearances by the ABBA members and many more interesting details which might be useful even if you have visited Stockholm before. You can order this video by email: videos@northlight.bu.aust.com or from

Pop Import

Kaprisvägen 34

33153 Värnamo

Sweden

Northern Lights Productions

PO Box 776

Epping 2121 N.S.W.

Australia

THANK YOU ABBA

Polygram Video 632 382-3 (1994)
This video includes interviews with manager Stig Anderson, costume designer Owe Sandström, sound engineer Michael B. Tretow, art director Rune Söderqvist and some fan club members. These interviews have ABBA's video clips running in the background. Full length versions of the clips are available on other ABBA videos.

ABBA LIVE IN CONCERT

   Vision Video Limited VVD 1130   (1993)
   Pioneer Laserdisc    MP 066-E   (1985)
   LDC Laserdisc USA    SM048-3197
   LDC Laserdisc Japan SM035-3452 (1989)
52 Minutes live action from the 1979 tour. The Laserdiscs are just called "ABBA In Concert".

ABBA THE VIDEO BIOGRAPHY 1974-1982

   Vision Video Limited 0883163   (1994)
   Virgin Music Video    VVD 252   (1991)
   LDC Laserdisc Japan SM045-3353 (1989)
55 Minutes. This cassette was previously offered with a few different covers. Many clips are not complete, but "Dancing Queen" is the live performance at the royal wedding in Stockholm!

THE STORY OF ABBA

MGM/UA Home Video UMV 10778 (1986)
Most clips are not complete. Includes interviews with ABBA and Stig.

ABBA THE MOVIE

MGM Home Video 10215 (1982)
MGM Laserdisc UNLV 10215 (1984)
The Movie from the Australian tour 1977 with lots of live hits and Robert Hughes as the foolish DJ Ashley chasing ABBA to get an interview. "Get On The Carousel" is an unreleased track which is only available on this video !

STIG ANDERSON PRESENTS ABBA

PDO Laserdisc LVG 1016 (1982)
This is only available on Laserdisc, not on VHS cassette, but these clips can be found on the ABBA GOLD video cassette ("Eagle" and "One Man, One Woman" on MORE ABBA GOLD) as well. Being an early Laserdisc, the audio is recorded in analogue FM. The disc is in CAV format giving slow-motion and freeze-frame capabilities.

ABBA: THE VIDEO HITS

   Pickwick Video    SL 1100
   Polygram Spectrum 791 203 (M-Show 1)
   Polygram Spectrum 791 001 (M-Show 2)
   Polygram Spectrum 791 328-2 (1981)
This cassette has also been published under these names: ABBA Music Show 1+2 from Polar and ABBA Greatest Hits from Polygram.

ABBA: MORE VIDEO HITS

Pickwick Video SL 1101
Polar Bonnier
Previously published by Polar as ABBA Music Show 3. Includes solo tracks by Agnetha and Frida.

OLIVIA TV SPECIAL

MCA Laserdisc MCA 74-005 (1980)
A very rare NTSC Laserdisc from an American TV show with Olivia Newton-John and Andy Gibb singing with ABBA.

CHESS MOVES

RCA RVT 10793 (1985)
26 minutes of video clips from the musical recorded in the studio.

MIO, MY MIO

(German edition: Taurus Junior Video 686, please look in the kids video department of your store for an english version) Astrid Lindgren's famous fantasy adventure story with the whole sound track written by Benny, Björn and Anders Eljas. The title theme "Mio, My Mio" is sung by Gemini and was included on their album "Geminism". Bosse, a little boy, finds his father in the land of faraway and meets his best friend to defeat the evil black knight Kato (Christopher Lee). Film and music are from 1987.

This list is based on the ABBA Information database running at the Stockholm Music Museum, which is mentioned in "Essential Stockholm". Laserdisc infos by Nicholas Robinson, published in INTERMEZZO magazine No. 10 . I guess that Universal/Polygram keeps the catalogue numbers and just changes the last digit for future DVD releases. Now they use "3" for VHS cassettes and "1" for Laserdiscs.

Abba Films & Video's