Feature film
Uli der Knecht
Franz Schnyder · 1954
Synopsis
Uli, a farmhand at the Boden farm in the Emmental, cares more for the bottle and the girls than for his work. His master lectures him and persuades him to change his ways; Uli sets to it, and his reputation grows to the point that old Joggeli, the farmer of the Glungge, hires him as head farmhand to restore order to a farm going to rack and ruin. He sets about it despite the resistance of the household. It remains to be seen whom he will marry, gentle Vreneli or Elisi, his new master's daughter.
Context
It was shot for the centenary of the death of Jeremias Gotthelf, with the support of the Confederation. The material comes from the first of the two books that Gotthelf devoted to this farmhand, published in 1841. Richard Schweizer wrote the screenplay with Werner Düggelin and the director, Emil Berna handled the camera and Robert Blum composed the music. Gloriafilm of Zurich produced it; the premiere took place at the Scala cinema in that city on 19 October 1954. Hannes Schmidhauser played Uli and Liselotte Pulver Vreneli, two roles that made them known.
Who it is for
One hundred and fifteen minutes, spoken in Bernese dialect. It helps to know that the book it comes from was an educational work, written by a pastor to instruct his parishioners.
Prizes and reception
A great popular success in Switzerland, and the first of a series of films by the same director adapted from Gotthelf, up to 1964.
Sources for this page 4
The pages consulted to check this page.