Professor Columbus

At the time 'Professor Columbus' was produced, back in the late Sixties, one of its female stars predicted it to be miserable. And right she was.

However, today this film may have some nostalgic charm to those interested in the hippies and their culture. Who were booming at the time.

We are also presented with famous Dutch actor Jeroen Krabbé, in a very early stage of his career. Acting out a not-too-convincing king of a hippie commune. Which is a contradiction in itself, for the hippies were sternly averse to any form of hierarchy.

The female star predicting 'Professor Columbus' to be miserable was Dutch celebrity Phil Bloom. She acquired a short-lived world fame by appearing naked on Dutch television, back then a shocking novelty all over the Western world.

Bloom was motivated at the time by a genuine desire to loosen the rigid manners & morals of her parent's society. Being educated at an art academy, she did so very well. Thus turning herself into an icon of the Sixties' revolution in the Netherlands.

"Professor Columbus" is an old librarian, played by German movie veteran Rudolf Platte, who just wants to go to the sea once in his lifetime. So he buys a big ship and takes a boat trip across the North Sea to London, accompanied by a bunch of stoned hippies and chased by the police.

When you read this short description, you might guess that this German movie was filmed back in 1968. There is no real plot at all, but it's rather a collection of slapstick and improvised scenes. The main focus of this early film by German seventies cult director Rainer Erler ("Das blaue Palais", "Fleisch") was to show what's possible beyond the limits of a conservative society - a typical topic of the late sixties like film experiments, mind expansion via drugs, sex, inner journeys, happenings, etc.

In that relation, this movie might be an interesting example to watch (especially a really weird hippie drug orgy on the boat), but otherwise you will get bored soon after a few minutes. Watch out for Dutch actor Jeroen Krabbé ("The Fourth Man", "The Living Daylights", "The Fugitive") in one of his early roles, and for Dutch actress Ankie van Amstel as a bare-breasted, carnaby-street-like dressed girl digging coal into the boat's steam engines. Unbelievable!!

To be honest, I never saw 'Professor Columbus'. I'd like to see it, though, but due to its inferior quality it obviously isn't for sale anywhere.

My purpose here is to write about Phil Bloom, who casts in this movie. She's some kind of celebrity in Holland, for causing quite a stir by appearing naked on Dutch TV. This happened back in 1967, and she was the first girl to do so.

But there's more about Phil Bloom. In the sixties several society-systems were attacked by people in their twenties. This happened in Holland, in France, in the USA, youngsters trying to liberate themselves from society's rigid structures. To enlarge their personal freedom. In hindsight this was a natural process, for these youngsters were not emotionally charged by the terrible experiences from World War 2. Their parents were, resulting in a greatly different outlook on life and on the way society should be run.

Young artists eagerly participated in this whirlwind of sixties-protests. By having a guerrilla, intending to shock and unsettle society's rigid structures. And this is where Phil Bloom comes in, with great success. After her naked performance Dutch society surely never wasn't anymore as it had been before.

It has to be emphasized that Phil participated out of artistic motives. Her naked appearance in 1967 was esthetically, and definitely not sexually charged. Of course this point was greatly missed by the public.

Exploiting her fame by taking part in 'Professor Columbus', and by having herself photographed by Playboy in a similar style, Phil Bloom soon tired of all fuss around her nakedness. Today she works as an artist in the Belgian city of Antwerp - close to Holland. Obviously she doesn't want to live in Holland anymore, for her reputation based on that 1967-tv show lives on. By now Phil's naked appearance more or less symbolizes the Dutch protest movement of the Sixties. Which surely is a fine artistic achievement.