Blessing the earth (film)

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Movie
German title Blessing the earth
Original title Brands Grøde
Country of production Norway
original language Norwegian
Publishing year 1921
length 96 minutes
Rod
Director Gunnar Sommerfeldt
script Gunnar Sommerfeldt
production Norrøna film
music Leif Halvorsen
camera George Schnéevoigt
occupation

Segen der Erde is a Norwegian feature film by Gunnar Sommerfeldt from 1921. The silent film in seven acts is the first adaptation of the novel Segen der Erde by Knut Hamsun , for which the writer received the Nobel Prize for Literature the previous year .

action

Isak settles in the pristine Norwegian wilderness, far away from other people. He builds a peat hut, clears trees and exchanges tree bark for food in the village in winter. However, he looks in vain for a woman for his wasteland.

Inger runs to him next spring. Although she has a harelip , she begins a life together with Isak. Through heavy physical work in agriculture and animal husbandry, they achieve modest prosperity with a wooden house, horse and sleigh. Inger gives Isak two sons every year and receives regular visits from her relatives and friends Oline and Os-Anders. During a visit to Os-Anders during her third pregnancy, Inger learns that Isak does not own the land and that he should actually buy it. Os-Anders also has a dead rabbit with him, which Inger shocks as a bad omen.

Magistrate Geissler visits Isak together with the expert Brede Olsen and registers his land under the name “Sellanraa”. A little later Geissler loses his position due to infidelity and leaves - not without advising Isak to acquire more land, as there are other interested parties.

Inger gives birth to a third child, just as before in Isak's absence. It is a girl with the feared harelip that she kills immediately after giving birth. While the child is buried, she is observed by Oline, who reveals the matter to Isak and then spreads it around the village. After lengthy negotiations, Inger is sentenced to eight years in prison and taken to prison by ship, where she has her fourth child. She works in the women's prison while Isak works on the estate. Geissler's former assistant, Brede Olsen, has become Isak's new neighbor with his daughter Barbro. When a telegraph line is to be pulled through the mountains, Brede Olsen takes over the position of inspector.

Geissler returns a few years after his escape. On his first visit to Isak he had seen stones containing metal on Isak's children, which now turn out to be copper. Geissler buys the land on which the stones were found from Isak for 200 thalers and gives him a ten percent share in the profits - he builds a copper smelter there. His farm is run by Aksel Strøm.

When she is released, Isak picks up Inger and their daughter Leopoldine. The area has now developed, there are six new properties. Her sons, Eleseus and Sivert, have grown up. Isak's neighbor Aksel Strøm has an eye on Brede Olsen's daughter Barbro. They come together at the dance on Saturday, she moves in with him.

When the copper mines no longer generate enough profit, unemployment spreads. Geissler sells the land and Isak receives his share of 4,000 thalers. Aksel takes over the telegraph post that Brede Olsen loses. Barbro is illegitimately pregnant from Aksel and gives birth to the child secretly in the water. Oline witnesses the crime again and spreads the apparent infanticide in the place. However, Barbro is acquitted in court. She returns to Aksel. Sivert fell in love with Jensine, the new maid on “Sellanraa”. A double wedding is celebrated the following spring.

background

The film was directed by the Danish director Gunnar Sommerfeldt with a Danish cameraman and several Norwegian and Danish theater actors and had its premiere in December 1921.

The original music for the film was composed by the well-known violinist and conductor of the Norwegian National Theater (1915–1917) Leif Halvorsen .

The film and the original score of the music were long thought to be lost . After an incomplete copy of the film was found in New York, the Dutch Film Museum discovered another copy in 1991. The film was recreated from both sources in 1993 with the support of the Lumière project from the EU's MEDIA program. The notation of the original music was discovered in the archives of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation in 1994.

Compared to the original length, around 20 minutes of footage are missing today.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://snl.no/Leif_Halvorsen

Web links