Scandinavian film (1952)

warmth and understanding. The story of the travails of the gentle and unwanted Ditte whose charity survives endless ill-usage, was sombre but not sordid; and it was illumined by passages of tender understanding such as the sequence in which the growing girl, bathing alone, becomes conscious of her own body. As the longsuffering Ditte, Tove Maes gave a performance of extraordinary tenderness. Her confidence was a constant source of strength for the filmland made its occasional naiveties and crudities acceptable. < The directors' handling of the children was masterly! and it seemed a natural step to devote their next film, De Pokkers linger (1947), entirely to children. Adapted from the novel by Estrid Ott, the film told a delightfully human story of the children of Copenhagen's tenements, whose only playgrounds are the courtyards and basements and whose happiness largely depends on the mood of the janitor of the moment. HenningJensen found the conflict which even the simplest film must have, in the fight which the children put up when the kindly old janitor who has won their friendship is marched away by the police of a false charge of stealing. Again there was documentary skill in the treatment of the background; and beneath the spirited fun was an obvious concern for social betterment. Bjarne and Astrid HenningJensen were rather less successful in the next film, Kristinus Bergman (1949). Adapted from a novel by Arthur Omre, the film attempted to look into the childhood of two criminals and to trace the origin of their delinquency; but the film was badly constructed and uneven in emphasis so that the theme found only sporadic expression. The directors showed their skill in a convincing account of a bank raid but could not meet the more exacting demands of shape and balance in their film. Another documentary director who began to make feature films was Ole Palsbo who joined Nordisk Films. After a piece with a cynical flavour, Take What You Want (1947), he made Kampen mod Uretten (Fight Against Injustice) (1949), based on the biography of Peter Sabroe, the Danish social politician who, before the First World War, devoted his life to helping unfortunate and destitute children. Strengthened by the acting of Mogens Wieth as Sabroe, the film gave stimulating expression to its idea. Concern for the welfare of children was also the basis of Det Gaelder os Alle (It Concerns Us All) (1949), directed by Alice O'Fredericks and made by Palladium with the assistance of the Red Cross and the Save the Children organizations. The film argued that everything should be done for the children of former enemy countries, the innocent victims of war, and cited the case of an Austrian girl whose father was put in a concentration camp because of his anti-Nazi writings. With such a case, the argument did not need to be pressed very strongly, although the arrival of the Austrian refugee in a Danish household was shown to arouse considerable controversy. There was an appealing performance by Ilselil Larsen as the Austrian girl, and Poul Reichhardt lent the authority of his acting to the part of a Red Cross doctor. Det Gaelder os Alle showed itself aware of the demands of its theme but lacked the imagination to meet them. It was not easy for the Danish cinema to maintain the standards of its most 47