Scandinavian film (1952)

With the liberation of the country, the feature film directors immediately turned to the Resistance Movement as a source of material. The results varied widely in nature and quality. Theodor Christensen compiled for Minerva Film Det Gcelder din Frihed (Your Freedom is at Stake), a record of resistance using actual material, much of it obtained by cameramen who were in as deadly danger as the saboteurs. For audiences who had lived through the episodes depicted the impact of the film was overwhelming; and to the outside world it told a story of resistance more graphically than any other medium could have done. It was a film of historical significance. Bodil Ipsen and Lau Lauritzen collaborated in making De Rode Enge (The Red Meadows) (1945), adapted from the novel by Ole Juul. It was the story of a typical resistance group, of the loyalty which binds them together, of the treachery of one member which endangers all their lives, of torture endured at the hands of the Nazis, and of help which comes from the most unexpected source. The players, under Bodil Ipsen's direction, helped to give the film a compelling sincerity. Poul Reichhardt's tensely moving performance as the leader of the resistance group was a touchstone for the film. Lisbeth Movin played the girl whose love survives a hundred separations, and Preben Neergaard was the traitor. It was a finely constructed film and achieved a tremendous power of conviction. Later the same collaborators made Stot Star den Danske Somand (Steady Stands the Danish Seaman) (1948), a simpler film describing the contribution of the Danish seamen in Allied service during the war. Den Usynlige Hcer (The Invisible Army) (1945), directed by Johan Jacobsen. attempted to convey the psychological reactions of the Danes to life during the Occupation and was admirably acted by Poul Reichhardt, Ebbe Rode, Bodil Kjer, and Mogens Wieth. Jacobsen continued to make films which probed beneath the surface of life for their material. His Soldaten og Jenny (1947) was a compassionate account of a lonely man with an inferiority complex and his relationship with a girl he meets in a cafe. Adapted from C. E. Soya's play, the film retained a theatrical atmosphere in some of its sequences; but while Poul Reichhardt and Bodil Kjer as the young people were on the screen it had a warmth of feeling which gave it life. In After (1948), also adapted from a play by Soya, Jacobsen was concerned with the mood of the people three years after the liberation and particularly with the disillusionment of a former member of the Resistance Movement. Johan Jacobsen had worked with the documentary movement during the war and his films retained a realistic flavour in their treatment. As some of the documentary directors gained experience and grew in confidence, they began to make feature films. In 1946 Bjarne and Astrid HenningJensen made a version of Martin Anderson Nexo's novel Ditte Menneskebarn (Ditte, Child of Man), written at the end of the First World War. While its essential qualities may have been derived from another medium, it was a film of strength and feeling in its own right. The documentary experience of the directors enabled them to set it firmly on the flat, wind-blown plains of North Sealand; and their treatment of character showed 46