Vi vil leve | |
---|---|
Directed by | Olav Dalgard Rolf Randall |
Written by | Olav Dalgard Rolf Randall |
Starring | Harald Heide Steen Berit Alten Stig Egede-Nissen Kari Frisell |
Cinematography | Reidar Lund |
Music by | Arne Dørumsgaard |
Distributed by | A/S Folkefilm |
Release date |
|
Running time | 111 minutes |
Country | Norway |
Language | Norwegian |
Vi vil leve (We Want to Live) [1] is a Norwegian film from 1946 directed by Olav Dalgard and Rolf Randall. The film deals with the German occupation of Norway. The film studies professor Gunnar Iversen characterizes it as "an uneven and choppy film that is marred by melodramatization that undermines authentic material." [2]
Dalgard and Randal wrote the manuscript while confined at the Grini detention camp and had it smuggled out before being sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. [3]
It is April 9, 1940 and an airplane takes flight to warn Norwegian merchant vessels that German naval forces are on their way toward Norwegian waters. The pilot signals to a Norwegian-flagged ship that responds by firing at the aircraft. The pilot is injured but manages to land on the water. He is picked up by a Norwegian boat on his way to Kristiansand. Before he dies, he informs Captain Knut Viker and First Mate Harald Bakken about the incident.
Sussie Holm is waiting for Captain Viker on the dock. However, he is concerned with more important things than spending time with her, and therefore introduces her to Harald. Knut immediately goes to Kristiansand's military to inform them about the incident with the flight. At the same time, the message comes that Norway is at war with Germany. The air raid alarm goes off when German airplanes circle the city. Knut decides to fight the Germans and takes Harald with him. Germany proves to be overwhelming and they both move to Harald's hometown of Utøy, where they embark on dangerous underground work. They meet Harald's former girlfriend Elsa, and she and Knut fall in love with each other. At the same time, the Nazi county governor suspects Knut and Harald and has them watched. Sussie meets the Gestapo member Vogel and does hesitate to tell him about Knut as revenge for leaving her.
One night Knut and Harald are planning to put a captain on board a Norwegian warship to take the captain to England. The county governor is alerted and goes out with the Germans to arrest the captain. However, the captain has already gotten on board and he instead begins hunting for Knut and Harald. They have been given important papers to take ashore. Knut jumps ashore while Harald is arrested and interrogated by Vogel. Later, Knut is also arrested and he is also questioned and tortured. He confesses, but protects Harald as best he can. Soon, all the residents of Utøy are arrested and sent to the Grini detention camp. Knut and Harald are told that they risk being sentenced to death and therefore decide to escape. Elsa and Ruth manage to dress in German uniforms to get Knut and Harald out of prison. They flee to Sweden. [4]
Grini prison camp was a Nazi concentration camp in Bærum, Norway, which operated between 1941 and May 1945. Ila Detention and Security Prison is now located here.
Olav Dalgard was a Norwegian literary and art historian, filmmaker, author and educator.
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Englandsfarere is a 1946 Norwegian war film directed by Toralf Sandø, starring Knut Wigert and Jørn Ording.
Alfred Zeidler was a German Schutzstaffel (SS) officer who served Nazi Germany in World War II. From 1942 to 1945, he was Lagerkommandant of the Grini detention camp in Norway during the German occupation. Although sentenced to lifelong forced labour after the war, Zeidler was released in 1953. Details of his later life are unknown.
Nils Mauritz Hald was a Norwegian actor.
Ragnhild Fjermeros Hald was a Norwegian actress.
Oscar Egede-Nissen was a Norwegian actor. He appeared in dozens of films from his debut in 1936 onward, his last being An-Magritt in 1969.
Om kjærligheten synger de is a Norwegian film from 1946. It was directed by Olav Dalgard and starred Harald Heide Steen in the lead role. The film deals with poverty in Oslo in the 1930s. The film premiered at the Klingenberg Cinema on October 30, 1946.