They speak of Amsterdam in admiring tones in this movie, a city of beautiful buildings and serious commerce. Of course, it's set in the early 19th century, so I guess it doesn't have the whole "hookers, diamonds, and pot" connotations that it's developed by now. Anyway, Hans couldn't afford any of those, so I guess
it's a moot point. The film does mention famous Amsterdam resident Rembrandt von Rijn, and it compares the city to Venice, but other than that, it doesn't really give anyone who isn't actually from a small Dutch town a reason to visit Amsterdam. For the curious, Wikipedia actually has a fairly lengthy list of tourist attractions in the city (including, yes, three red-light districts and four diamond markets), some of which were even places Hans and Gretel themselves might very well have visited, such as the Royal Palace; indeed, we see Hans outside Rembrandt's house.
Hans Brinker (Rony Zeaner) is the older son of Raff (Erik Strandmark) and Metje Brinker (Inga Landgré). He has a sister, Gretel (Carin Rossby), and a brother, uncredited. (Were IMDB your only resource, you would not know about the younger kid. In fact, I'm only about 95% sure the kid is a boy.) Raff is a poor fisherman, but they get by. Indeed, he's managed to save a thousand guilders. Which is, you would think, good for the family when Raff is suffers major brain damage in a fall from a dyke during a storm. Unfortunately, they can't find where he hid the money. Hans is forced to drop out of school and work to support the family, forgoing his dream of becoming an artist. The local burgemeester's daughter, Hilda Van Gleck (Gunilla Jelf), makes him promise to keep at it, and indeed, he goes to Amsterdam to try to sell some of his drawings. He is also looking for famed brain surgeon Dr. Boekman (Gunnar Sjöberg), whom he believes can cure his father. Oh, and there's the famous race, wherein Hans or Gretel, depending on which one wins which race, can win 300 guilders and the titular pair of silver skates.
Oddly, most of the cast seems to be Swedish. There's one Belgian and several people who have the one credit and no other information. This is even more odd in that it seems to have been filmed on location; Disney did that sort of thing, though whether they'd bother for an episode of Wonderful World of Color is another question. I mean, was there no one in the entire Netherlands who could act? I don't even ask for just Holland. Flevoland? Zeeland? Utrecht? Any of the provinces would be fine. It's not a huge country, even by European standards, but surely there must have been someone there who could act. Then again, since most of the cast doesn't even rate a mention on IMDB, it could turn out that everyone in a minor role is Dutch. Indeed, that omission on a usually exacting site is kind of odd. A lot of films, especially older ones, have lists of the uncredited; this one does not.
When the race and the titular skates came up, Graham snorted, even though he'd asked me some ten or twenty minutes earlier where the skates were. And, indeed, the announcement of the skating contest just when it'd solve all their problems is a little deus ex machina-y, and this plot is full of the stuff. The barge captain who won't hire Hans just happens to have a brother who was saved by Dr. Boekman. Hans just happens to run into Frans Ruisdael (Alf Kjellin), I think, who is an artist and can help Hans sell his paintings. I could go on, but I think you get the idea. Every time the Brinkers fall into a trap, something magically occurs to get them out of it. It's true that Hans does a lot of work to aid his family, and Gretel and her mother do make lace that goes for a good price in Amsterdam, but it isn't really their hard work that gets them out of things.
The season of Disneyland, or Wonderful World of Color in its alternate title, that gave us Hans Brinker also gave us, among other things, five episodes featuring Ludwig Von Drake. His introduction, in fact, which also featured that beloved short--well, long-ish short--"Donald in Mathmagic Land." Many of the episodes are the sort of thing most people think of when they think of Wonderful World of Color, such as "Chico, the Misunderstood Coyote." It also featured lesser-known Disney features The Light in the Forest and Tonka cut for TV. In short, it's pretty much the same as any other episode of the series, unto featuring "Disneyland After Dark," more of Walt's shilling for the park. I really wish a show like that was still on the air. No, not every week would feature something worth watching, but it would still produce some classics. Not that this would have been one of them.
March 8, 2009
