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Jonge harten (1936)
Jonge Harten - A symbolic break with Dutch cinema of the past
A year after De Kribbebijter took the first step away from the traditional, folksy Dutch Jordaan-films, Jonge Harten provided a much more radical break with the cinema of the past, pleading for a whole new style of filmmaking altogether.
When her in-laws threaten to separate free-spirited actress Maja from her infant child, she flees to the Dutch island of Texel, where she severely disrupts the established romantic order in a group of young, attractive Amsterdam students who camp there.
From the deliberately fake-looking set of the in-laws house, where dialogues are corny and acting is stiff and wooden, the action soon moves to the real location of Texel, exhibiting a complete change of style: the camera moves freely through the landscape and the acting becomes as natural as it can get, at times coming across as improvised. A rather brilliant symbolic break with the past.
Charles Huguenot van der Linden explained: 'We didn't want to make another De Jantjes, Bleeke Bet or Malle gevallen. We wanted less chat, no theatricality and less drama. In short, a film about real life.'
In its desperate struggle against mainstream cinema through location shooting, experimental cutting and natural acting, Jonge Harten almost seems a prognostication of sorts, predicting the French New Wave that would bloom decades later.
When the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival of 1936, Italian newspapers were raving:
"With 'Cuori Giovanni', the Netherlands have delivered one of the most beautiful films of this 4th Biennale. The story is so full of pristine charm that the audience, overwhelmed by the joyous and healthy accomplishments of this work, felt compelled to applaud and cheer for the directors and cast." (De Popolo d'Italia)
"Of the three films shown today, 'Jonge Harten' is the most interesting and at the same time the most modest. It is most important that the Biennale opens her gates to such important endeavours, instead of the banalities of films made for purely commercial reasons..." (La Stampa)
After the Venice success Jonge Harten went on to garner rave reviews and... eventually be forgotten. As most Dutch pre-war films unfortunately are.
This important yet underseen film is now available on Youtube (with watermarks) and EYE Film Player for free, without subtitles.
Komedie om geld (1936)
An inspired misfire - Max Ophüls' only Dutch effort
I consider the reviews for Komedie om Geld on imdb so far quite insightful and generally on point. Allow me, however, to delve into the way the project came together a bit more; not only mentioning the 'what', but explaining the 'why'.
After the international success of Henry Koster's De Kribbebijter, another exiled filmmaker was hired to direct a Dutch cinematic prestige project. In celebration of the 15th anniversary of Tuschinski theatre, Amsterdam's most prestigious cinema, Max Ophüls was contracted to helm what would be a rather special production. At the height of the Great Depression, the Tuschinski's deemed it a good idea to release a relentless critique of the banking world - a moral shot in the arm of sorts. At the same time, however, the budget of over 135.000 Dutch guilders made it the most expensive production the Netherlands had ever seen - talk about extreme insensitivity. One should not be surprised that audiences at the time decided to pass on this tonedeaf, hypocritically moralising misfire en masse and see De Kribbebijter again instead.
That said, not all is bad in Ophüls' only Dutch effort. In his autobiography, the director recalls being generally unhappy with the slow shooting process - in France he would have 'finished four films in that time' - but declares having been very content with the actors. It shows. The lead performance by Dutch stage legend Herman Bouber is beyond effective in its sincerity, young starlet Rini Otte is utterly convincing and charming as ever (Ophüls himself insisted on having her join the cast after seeing Jonge Harten) and scene-stealer Cor Ruys appears in a small but powerful part as cunning Bank President Moorman. If anything, Komedie om Geld is worth watching because of its performances. The camerawork is also inspired, as are certain elements such as the clownesque presenter.
Even though the performances, visuals and unique intermezzo's make Komedie om Geld interesting and over-all fairly enjoyable, it remains moralising, not too well-written and in my humble opinion certainly not on par with other early Dutch sound films such as De Kribbebijter, Jonge Harten and Pygmalion. The latter aside, Komedie om Geld is now the only Dutch 1930s film with English subtitles on EYE Amsterdam's Youtube channel and Eye Player. It is beyond embarrassing that the leading film institute in the Netherlands continues to propagate this picture, stating that "oddly enough, audiences did not take to the film", thus proving that they know jack sh*t about the cinematic history they possess.
De Kribbebijter (1935)
Kribbebijter Madness - the movie that shook the interwar Netherlands
To say Dutch audiences in the 30s loved De Kribbebijter would be an understatement: the movie stayed in theaters from july 1935 to december 1942, packing full houses until the very end of its run. International critics did not seem to understand what exactly made this Dutch comedy so special, but when one takes a closer look at the cinematic climate in the Netherlands in those days, they will find that the Kribbebijter-madness made perfect sense.
In the mid-thirties, the most popular movie genre in the Netherlands was that of the so-called 'Jordaan-film'; jolly musicals with a simple, predictable plot and catchy songs, always set in the Amsterdam 'Jordaan' area and often starring Dutch variety icons like Louis Davids, Fien de la Mar and Sylvain Poons. But even though films like 'De Jantjes', 'Bleeke Bet' and 'Het Leven is Niet Zoo Kwaad' were enjoyable and full of talented performers, the Jordaan-films were also very much seen as a crowd-pleasing, often clumsily made cinematic equivalent of junkfood. Hollywood movies on the other hand were often too melodramatic and self-important to please the phlegmatic Dutch (Doe maar gewoon, dan doe je al gek genoeg...).
By 1935, Jordaan-film-fatigue was setting in -- the last true Jordaan film, 'Oranje Hein', would be released in 1936 -- and Dutch audiences were longing for something closer to the coherent plot structures of Hollywood, but with that unmistakably Dutch combination of abstemious downplaying and theatrical folly.
What they got was De Kribbebijter. Needless to say, they were pleased.
While retaining the romantic entanglements of the Jordaan-films, the storyline of De Kribbebijter has an un-Dutch sense of coherence; it does not derive its jolly fun from intermezzo's or random jokes, but rather from cleverly written setpieces and inspired comedic performances by theatre powerhouses Cor Ruys and Louis de Bree especially. The acting is -- apart from an astoundingly hammy Mary Dresselhuys -- not as wacky as the Jordaan-films, and not nearly as melodramatic and overly sentimental as most 30s Hollywood productions. Visually and technically the directing is so-so, but unlike most Dutch movies at the time, the camera was dynamic enough not to make it feel like filmed theatre.
In short: De Kribbebijter is a unique picture; unique in being very Dutch in its approach, but also very non-Dutch in its execution. It's a movie I enjoyed immensely, and I hope a subtitled version will be released soon so foreign cinephiles can enjoy it as well!