Cinema
Den store barnedåpen
Tancred Ibsen · 1931
Synopsis
In the house of a landlady nicknamed Dobbelt-Petra live Harald, a man with no job and no drive, and Alvilde, who is expecting a child out of wedlock. Alvilde takes Harald under her wing and ends up entrusting the child to his care. After the birth, she wants to have her child christened along with other “løsunger”, the children born out of wedlock in the neighbourhood, and this great collective christening gives the comedy its title.
Context
The film is based on a play by Oskar Braaten first staged in 1925; it is Tancred Ibsen's first feature film and the first full-length sound film shot in Norway, produced by AS Oslo Talefilm with well-known stage actors, Einar Sissener as Harald and Aase Bye as Alvilde. The Norwegian school portal stresses its novelty in its picture of the working class and the city, a break with the national romanticism of Norwegian films of the 1920s.
Who it is for
An early talkie, in Norwegian, for those interested in working-class Oslo of the 1930s and in popular theatre.
Prizes and reception
The film that brought speech into Norwegian cinema and launched a director who became one of its great figures.