Introduction
Morten Piil (1 March 1943 – 22 March 2018) was a Danish writer and film critic. He received a Bodil Honorary Award in 2002 for his "long-standing contribution to Danish film literature".
Piil was a film critic at Berlingske Tidende 1962-67, and has since then been at Dagbladet Information where he has also written about literature and rock music. He was a film consultant at the Danish Film Institute 1975-77, and 1968-96 consultant for DR's film department.
Piil has written several reference works on Danish cinema. His three books published on Gyldendal, Danske filmskuespillere ("Danish film actors") (2001), a monograph on 525 actors active in the period 1930-2001, Danske filminstruktører ("Danish filmmakers") (2005), detailing 120 Danish film directors active between 1930 and 2005, and Gyldendals danske filmguide ("Gyldendals Danish film guide") (2008), a description of 1200 Danish feature films — virtually every major film release from 1930 to 2008, poses with a total volume of approximately 1,800 pages the most comprehensive survey of Danish film and the main figures behind it.
In 2003, Information published Film på hjernen: 40 års bedste biografoplevelser a 664-page selection of his film criticism from the last 40 years.
Piil has translated three works of Vladimir Nabokov to Danish.
Selected works
- Ib Monty; Morten Piil (1964). Se — det er film: en antologi af filmessays (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: Fremad.
- Ib Monty; Morten Piil (1965). Se — det er film: en antologi af filmessays (in Danish). 2. Copenhagen, Denmark: Fremad.
- Ib Monty; Morten Piil (1966). Se — det er film: en antologi af filmessays (in Danish). 3. Copenhagen, Denmark: Fremad.
- Per Calum; Morten Piil; Viggo Holm Jensen; Ib Monty (1969). Generationsskifte i Hollywood (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: Det Danske Filmmuseum.
- Ib Monty; Morten Piil (1970). Se, det er film — i klip (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: Fremad.
- François Truffaut; Alfred Hitchcock; Morten Piil (1973). Hitchcock om Hitchcock (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: Rhodos.
- Peter Kirkegaard; Morten Piil; Bo Tao Michaëlis; Jørgen Stegelmann; Marianne Rosen; Anders Bodelsen (1985). Truffaut: tolv film-essays (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: Centrum. ISBN 978-87-583-0270-6.
- Morten Piil (2000). Gyldendals filmguide: danske film fra A til Z (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: Gyldendal. ISBN 978-87-00-47806-0.
- Christian Monggaard; Morten Piil (2003). Filmquiz: Bind 1 (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: Informations Forlag. ISBN 978-87-7514-089-3.
- Morten Piil (2003). Film på hjernen: 40 års bedste biografoplevelser (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: Informations forlag. ISBN 978-87-7514-077-0.
- Christian Monggaard; Jacob Wendt Jensen; Morten Piil (2004). Filmquiz: Bind 2 (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: Informations Forlag. ISBN 978-87-7514-102-9.
- Morten Piil (2005). Danske filminstruktører (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: Gyldendal. ISBN 978-87-02-02981-9.
- Morten Piil (2006). Danske filmskuespillere (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: Gyldendal. ISBN 978-87-02-02104-2.
- Morten Piil (2008). Gyldendals danske filmguide (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: Gyldendal. ISBN 978-87-02-06669-2.