While living on the isle of Hisengen through her early teens, Christina was spotted by several photographers and became a badflicka (bathing girl) and joined the ranks of many other young girls of the region in the pages of various adult minded magazines. Things proceeded quickly once she met the famous photographer Siwer Ohlsson at a discotheque in Göteborg and was recruited for a shoot in FIB-Aktuellt... and was featured on the cover in a shot that could be called nothing less than stunning. That photo grabbed lots of attention for the now 19 year old beauty and quickly the movie business came calling. A few well placed calls landed her a role in Maid In Sweden--a title to conjure with if you want to imagine Swedish Sexploitation-- and Christina's presence was immediately one that the crowds wanted to see more of, in every sense of the word.
And the producers wanted to give them more as well! As the 1970's got started, Christina became easier and easier to find with her film and pictorial output growing exponentially year to year. From the dark oddity of Gustav Wiklund's Exponerad to the strangely compelling work of Joe Sarno and headlong into the popular Schulmadchen films of Germany being produced by Wolf C. Hartwig, Christina had an incredible mystique and popularity that seemed to capture the attention of every lascivious man (and woman!) on the planet. With a title such as Young Playthings sitting proudly over Christina's face (ahem, and other parts) on the poster it was a sure thing, an irresistible lure into the cinema. And it still works since we are here today holding this DVD of Sex and Fury!
One stunning example of Christina's drawing power and persona coming together was witnessed at the Cannes Film Festival to promote her feature Exponerad. The producers hired a helicopter to drop her in to a press conference—half nude by her account! With press like that, and all the tabloid headlines clamoring about her love life, Christina Lindberg became more than an actress and more along the lines of a sensation. That same press conference was attributed by Christina in helping distribute the film worldwide, even to Japan-where Toei Studios would later bring her for several films.
1972 and 1973 was a whirlwind time, with Christina appearing in no less than 11 films. She was a reported upon Schoolgirl, a young plaything, made love in 3-Dimensions and was a wide eyed girl named Anita... and wide open for cinematic spectacle.
Her most notorious film however would be the infamous cult shocker Thriller-A Cruel Picture (a.k.a. They Call Her One Eye) for maverick Swedish director Bo-arne Vibenius. A rough and rude film, Christina is beautiful as a mute angel of death who loses her sanity and takes vengeance on all of her tormentors. Not only is she sexy as Madeline / Frigga (in the dubbed edition), she created a truly memorable character as well. Since she never speaks during the film that is no mean feat. While the inclusion of hardcore sex using a double (and a very unflattering backside at that) may have been an irritant to Christina, this violent and sleazy film would become her most infamous role. Even today echoes of that film are felt as one Hollywood Honcho saw fit to “pay homage” to the one eyed avenger in a recent kung fu opus, which in turn introduced a new generation of cinematic libertine's to the charms of Ms. Lindberg.
After the grueling schedule and stunts (Christina drove all over without having a license and threw more punches than she probably ever did in the rest of her life during the shooting of Thriller), she made her way to Japan for two films with the Japanese giants of movie thrills, Toei Studios. These films have been very hard to find, for many this DVD will be the first glimpse at this trip that had a young Swedish girl speaking English to a Japanese man... who is also speaking English! Both truly don't speak English very well, and the result is a truly surreal end result. Sex and Fury is a respectable bit of well made Japanese Bad Girl Boss style cinema, with enough action and sleazy going on to delight fans of that magic era of Japanese pink films. Christina is especially good as well, going from gun wielding lady gambler to exotic love interest with ease. Toei also produced Nippon Sex Ryoko during Lindberg's stay with them (in which they also worked her mercilessly with lots of television and promotional appearances)-and I'm certain fans will be clamoring for it's release.
Upon returning to Sweden she starred in Anita alongside future star Stellan Skarsgård and then began to slow down. After several smaller Swedish productions she moved forward on the big stage of her life and began a career in journalism, eventually becoming chief editor of Flygryven, an aviation review magazine. She did however feature in a documentary on finding edible mushrooms called Christina's Svampskola (Mushroom school??) and returned to her role as Madeline from Thriller in Sex, lögner & videovåld in a cameo.
With her beauty and natural charms, Christina Lindberg created a wonderfully curvy body of work that has endured the decades to entice the collectors of exotic cinema to this very day, with this very release! Be she a schoolgirl, a Swedish nymphet, a female gambler with a gun or a one-eyed angel of destruction, there is only one Christina Lindberg. And as it was when these films were first released her face and distinctly haunting eyes are a lure that is irresistible.
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