User Reviews

I must admit that the film Een koninkrijk voor een huis (A kingdom for a house) is not really my thing. Basically it is a comedy of the Heinz Ruehmann category. The characters are straightforward, without complications. Of course there is a romance. There are also some bad guys, but in the end they get what they deserve. As a matter of fact, one of the good guys hits them unconscious with a single blow. I watched the film for two reasons. First, the story has the interesting social theme of the housing shortage. Second, it features celebrated Dutch actors like Heintje Davids and Johan Kaart. Since the height of their glory dates from the pre-war era, their names were familiar to me, but I do not have vivid memories of their performances. In the narrative the problem of the housing shortage is interwoven with the gap between the classes in society. In those days the differences between the classes were rapidly weakening, and the film makers probably wanted to further this social change. The shortage of houses just after the war was partly caused by the avalanche of newly wed couples, who all needed a shelter. The events reminded me of my parents, who for some time after their marriage were forced to live together with their mother(-in-law), and were not really happy about this situation. In the film a market-woman in Amsterdam is quartered by the municipality into the house of a higher class family. Of course the manners are incompatible, which leads to hilarious situations. Just like the Heinz Ruehmann films there are no deeper layers: what you see is what you get. I guess that at the time life itself was complicated to such an extent (the aftermath of the great Depression, the horrors and destruction of the German fascist regime, the colonial war in the Indies, the Bolshevist infiltration from the East), that the people were just yearning for simplicity and clarity. And the ridicule of high rank befitted the contemporary political climate. Since for modern man (or at least for me) the atmosphere is too narrow-minded, the film is outdated and is deserving only as an image of the time. If you are interested in Dutch films, you might consider seeing my other reviews.