Gategutter

Good old Norwegian film about a band of children who happens to be small time thugs. everyone is poor, so they do what they can to eat. and that means stealing from trucks and sometimes down at the docks of Oslo. i am a big fan of one of the Directors who made this. Arne Skouen was a great filmmaker. just look at "Ni Liv"(Nine Lives), one of the best Norwegian movies ever made. While this film may not be great, it sure is a charming good movie with some memorable moments. the acting i can't brag about. but sadly most of the old movies from Norway have a kind of stage play feel to it. this can be amusing, but in the long run it can be frustrating. the film also take up subjects familiar to almost all societies. like poverty, alcoholism, strike and the longing for a better life

This is acclaimed Norwegaain writer and director Arne Skouen's first feature film, based on his own script. He had direction help from Ulf Greber, since he before this was a theater director. The story behind this, is that Skouen had written this novel, "Gategutter", and was called into the office of the manager of the government owned Norsk Film (Norwegian Film) and told: "We want you to make your novel into a film. It has great potential. And we want you to direct." And so it was. Skouen had studied great theater master in Hollywood, and was greatly inspired also by movies. He said yes, and this was the start of one of the Norwegian master of film. Skouen went on to both becoming an Oscar nominee (for "Ni liv") and five time chosen to the main programme in Cannes Film Festival.

This film is about poor boys in Oslo in the 1920's depression. They steal coconuts, and the film starts off with this and an accident which happens during one of these missions, when a knife slips and cuts one of the boys, Gotfred. The boy which knife slips, Karsten, is the main person in the film, beautifully played by Tom Tellefsen, which later got an acting career in Norwegain film and theater.

This film catches the time spirit of the depression in Norway's capital like no other, and is as such a treasure. An important issue is both laboring and solidarity, as socialism, as opposed to communism, was a main idea in Norway, where the depression was a start of the later dominating social democratic ideas seen in Norway for decades later.

This film also introduces of of Norwegian film's most beloved personalities, Pål Bang- Hansen, playing young Sofus. He later became an acclaimed director as well as the most important TV-presenter of film programs, and main film reviewer in the national TV broadcaster NRK (Norwegian National Broadcasting) both TV and radio. His voice and glasses was a trade mark like no other.

The film is not only a Norwegian classic, it was also a huge success at the cinemas back in 1950, with Norway still very much recovering from the second world war. Premiering on the second day of Christmas, it was given much acclaim both by reviewers as well as the broad audience of cinema goers. It also gave Arne Skouen the push to make more movies, though the next wasn't screened until 1952. Norsk Filmteknikk AS has restored this black and white film beautifully. Still I'd like them to take away more of the back ground noise. It's out on a DVD-box with 16 of Skouen's 17 films, all remastered with English subtitles.