Norsk filminstitutt

Anders, who has just passed his student exam, runs away from home with Gerd, the loose-moralled daughter of an unmarried saleswoman, in the face of the parents disapproval. In order to remove her from her bad company in the town, Anders takes her to a deserted farm where he teaches her, somewhat against her will. the joys of simple living. Anders father and Gerds mother trace the couple and try to persuade them to come home, but accept their decision to stay, Gerds mother considering them a good match. One day a strange mand, Bengt, arrives who later turns out to be the owner of teh farm, and he persuades them to help him steal food from the local shop. Gerd is half attracted by him, and tries to use him to get away from Anders with whom she is getting bored. The police come to arrest Anders for the theft (Bengt and Gerd are hiding on top of the barn), but he is later released and returns to the farm convinced that Bengt has seduced Gerd. Finding Bengt sleeping in the barn, he knocks him unconscious, accidentally setting the barn on fire. Gerd appears and makes Anders drag Bengt from the fire. When he regains consciousness he says that he has had enough of their stupidities and throws them our, and they go off, reconciled, to wwait the birth of their baby. A low-key opening with the youngsters driving tenseley through the dusk, and long flashbacks to their unhappy meetings before, leads one to expect yet another picture of misunderstood youth in the underworld of the city. But it turns into quite a charming country idyll (shades of Summer with Monica) with a strong moral purpose. The lack of pompousness and the sympathetic observation of the characters make up for a certain superficiality, and the cliches are treated so lightly that they seem almost fresh.

Production and distribution

Production Year:
1959
Production country:
Norway
Release date (national):
1959-10-08
Production company:
Carlmar Film A/S
Producer:
Otto Carlmar

Director

  • Edith Carlmar

    Edith Carlmar (b. 1911 - d. 2003) started out at as dancer and an actress at the age of 15, and went on to become the first female director in Norwegian cinema - and one of Norwegian film history's most successful directors at that.

    Born Edith Mathiesen to a single mother in Oslo, Edith grew up in poor conditions in a working class district on Oslo's east end, and at times even in foster-care, because her mother could not afford to have her daughter living at home. Despite this Edith managed to train as a dancer, and age fifteen she made her on-stage debut at the Kongshavn Bath variety stage. Four years later, in 1930, she also married the theater-, film- and business man Otto Carlmar. In 1936 she switched careers, from dancing to acting, and made her debut at Det Nye Teater in Oslo in 1936. While at the theater she became acquainted with Lillebil Ibsen, wife of noted film director Tancred Ibsen, who invited Carlmar to work as a script supervisor on his next film. This was to be the start of Carlmar's career in films, and by the next film she worked on she had already advanced to production secretary. Carlmar later stated that she always saw Ibsen as her great inspiration and mentor in the art of film.

    The next few years Carlmar worked in both film and theater, but eventually withdrew from film-work during the war, on account of not wanting to work under the Nazi-controlled production environment in occupied Norway during WWII. However, in 1946 she returned, again working for Tancred Ibsen. In 1946 she was also awarded a grant by the National Federation of the Municipal Cinemas (Kommunale Kinematografers Landsforbund) to travel to Great Britian to study directing and production management. Carlmar went, and became a committed student, even being consulted on artistic evaluations of scenes and shots, as well as other aspects of the production she was to observe.

    Inspired by her experiences in Great Britain she then established the production company Carlmar Film A/S with her husband Otto, in February of 1949. With herself as director, and Otto as producer, the company would produce ten feature films over the course of the next decade. Carlmar's debut, Death is a Caress, premiered in August of 1949, to favorable reviews and solid box-office numbers. Stylistically solid, and thematically refreshing in a Norwegian context, Death is a Caress was Norway's first - and some would argue; only - film noir, and from the get-go

    Edith Carlmar

Cast

Atle Merton
Randi Brænne
Tore Foss
Rolf Søder
Nanna Stenersen
Liv Ullmann

Festivals

1997:
Rouen Nordic Film Festival
2010:
Nordic Film Days Lübeck
2011:
Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York
2019:
Berlin International Film Festival
2019:
Scandinavia House, New York

Crew

Director:
Edith Carlmar
Screenplay:
Otto Carlmar
Based on:
Ettersøkte er 18 år by Nils Johan Rud
Cinematographer:
Sverre Bergli
Editor:
Fritze Kiær Nilsen
Composer:
Bjarne Amdahl
ProductionDesigner:
Grethe Hejer
Sound Design:
Arne Holm

Technical information

Genre:
Drama
Format:
35mm
Screen ratio:
1:1,37
Colour:
Svarthvit
Sound format:
Mono

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