Cinema
The Red Horses
De røde heste
Alice O'Fredericks · 1950
Synopsis
Ole Offor has just finished agricultural school. His father sends him to an old friend who is dying, to save his farm, which the dying man's second wife and her accomplices, including a cavalry captain, are deliberately driving to ruin. The young man settles in, puts the farm back in order and looks after the estate's chestnut horses, while a difficult relationship begins to take shape with a young woman of the household.
Context
The film adapts a novel by Morten Korch, whose stories of country life were then the most widely read in the country and whom Nordisk had refused to bring to the screen; the producer Henning Karmark acquired the rights for his own company. Co-directed with Jon Iversen, it was released on 9 January 1950 and opened a long series of Korch adaptations, thirteen from 1950 to 1967 according to the Danish Film Institute. Critics detested these films; Sweden made its own version in 1954.
Who it is for
About one hour forty-seven minutes, in Danish. A rural melodrama with a happy ending, following the rule of the films based on Korch.
Prizes and reception
The biggest box-office success in Danish cinema: from 2.3 to more than 2.6 million tickets depending on the sources, for 4.5 million inhabitants; it made Poul Reichhardt a star.