Family feuds, nature, destructive jealousy, waterfalls, you name it, it is here in this well-done adaptation of the Trygve Gulbranssen novel. You have to be a fan of this trashy literature to fully appreciate the film, but both Paul May and the cast took it seriously and do a convincing job. There are some scenes (Like the transport of the trees via the waterfall) that make this a slightly above-average film; the cinematography of the countryside, the mountains and the waterfall is nice, but indoor cinematography is mainly flat. Gert Fröbe is fine as Old Dag, which part is the best written; other parts are too shallow.
3 Reviews
HEIMATFILM with Gert FRÖBE and Maj-Britt NILSSON
ZeddaZogenau9 December 2023
West German HEIMATFILM classic with Gert Fröbe and Maj-Britt Nilsson
In the 1930s, the Björndal novels by the Norwegian author Trygve Gulbranssen (1894-1962) were real bestsellers in German-speaking countries. At the end of the 1950s, this first part was shot by Paul May (1909-1976), who was best known for the 08/15 film series, on location (Gudbrandsdalen, southeast Norway) with a large cast of stars.
It tells the story of a farming family that has become prosperous and has to suffer under the domineering patriarch Dag (Gert Fröbe). This old Dag has two sons: the impulsive Tore (Hansjörg Felmy) and the calm Dag Jr. (Joachim Hansen). And then there is the noble Colonel von Gall (Carl Lange), who lives in the neighborhood with his snooty daughter Elisabeth (Anna Smolik). With her intrigues, this Elisabeth is supposed to become the nemesis of the Björndalers when the quick-tempered Tore fights with the dashing lieutenant Ludwig von Margas (Jürgen Goslar) over the unscrupulous Elisabeth...
The early Ingmar Bergman heroine Maj-Britt Nilsson (particularly beautiful in "Sommarlek") plays the upright Adelheid, who, like her impoverished father Major Barre (Hans Nielsen), has to endure the parasites of richer acquaintances. Especially in the role of Maj-Britt Nilsson (1924-2006) you can clearly see how much visual impressions can change. When I saw the film when I was a teenager, the character of Adelheid seemed primarily positive and likeable. As an adult, however, you recognize the unpleasant and exploitative nature of this character.
A great film that was seen by over 10 million cinemagoers at the time. There was also the BAMBI AWARD for the most popular film of the year.
Anna Smolik, born in Vienna in 1928, is a true phenomenon as Elisabeth von Gall in the film. The actress has mainly done theater and some television. She was hardly seen in the cinema, but here she was in this leading role. The rest of the star cast speaks for itself.
In the 1930s, the Björndal novels by the Norwegian author Trygve Gulbranssen (1894-1962) were real bestsellers in German-speaking countries. At the end of the 1950s, this first part was shot by Paul May (1909-1976), who was best known for the 08/15 film series, on location (Gudbrandsdalen, southeast Norway) with a large cast of stars.
It tells the story of a farming family that has become prosperous and has to suffer under the domineering patriarch Dag (Gert Fröbe). This old Dag has two sons: the impulsive Tore (Hansjörg Felmy) and the calm Dag Jr. (Joachim Hansen). And then there is the noble Colonel von Gall (Carl Lange), who lives in the neighborhood with his snooty daughter Elisabeth (Anna Smolik). With her intrigues, this Elisabeth is supposed to become the nemesis of the Björndalers when the quick-tempered Tore fights with the dashing lieutenant Ludwig von Margas (Jürgen Goslar) over the unscrupulous Elisabeth...
The early Ingmar Bergman heroine Maj-Britt Nilsson (particularly beautiful in "Sommarlek") plays the upright Adelheid, who, like her impoverished father Major Barre (Hans Nielsen), has to endure the parasites of richer acquaintances. Especially in the role of Maj-Britt Nilsson (1924-2006) you can clearly see how much visual impressions can change. When I saw the film when I was a teenager, the character of Adelheid seemed primarily positive and likeable. As an adult, however, you recognize the unpleasant and exploitative nature of this character.
A great film that was seen by over 10 million cinemagoers at the time. There was also the BAMBI AWARD for the most popular film of the year.
Anna Smolik, born in Vienna in 1928, is a true phenomenon as Elisabeth von Gall in the film. The actress has mainly done theater and some television. She was hardly seen in the cinema, but here she was in this leading role. The rest of the star cast speaks for itself.
Ambitious, but ultimately not successful
Horst_In_Translation10 July 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"Und ewig singen die Wälder" or "Beyond Sing the Woods" or "Duel with Death" is a West German color film from 1959, so this one is almost 60 years old already. It is one of the more known works by director Paul May and writer Kurt Heuser, who adapted the novel by Trygve Gulbranssen for the screen here. If you hear this name, you probably already know that this is a Norwegian story in the original, but the fact that Norway is not listed as one of the countries producing this film shows us that the cast is almost exclusively German. This includes Gert Froebe before he became a Bond villain, Hansjörg Felmy and Joachim Hansen. I must say I am familiar with these names than the female actresses, but then again there's far more males credited here. If you hear the title, you probably guess that this is just another German "Heimatfilm", but in this case you are wrong, as the Norwegian impact makes obvious already. Family and romance are components here for sure, but there's more to this story, like for example major plot references about family feuds and Froebe's character, who is among the oldest in here and still he is first-billed and probably has the most screen-time. And the way the film ends shows too how it is mostly about him and the struggles about love and the landscape are just secondary in importance. However, I must say despite being a big Froebe fan, I did not enjoy this film as much as I hoped I would. He definitely has his moments and also elevated the material, but there are lengthy sequences that add very little and are pretty uninteresting. As a consequence the film drags on some occasions. I do not recommend the watch and I also have no interest in checking out the sequel, especially as it's without some of the major players from this first film. Thumbs down for the singing forests.
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