Boefje

There were so few Dutch films made in the 30's and the 40's that I decided to watch 2 of them... out of curiosity.

One of them was Boefje.

The first thing that surprised me was that it was made by Douglas Sirk (billed as Detlef Sierck), who had recently left Nazi Germany because his second wife was Jewish. I could not see in this film any relation to the films made by the same Douglas Sirk in the US, not the same technique, not the themes he was later comfortable with... Nothing at all. It is as if it was another film maker altogether.

I can image that he made this film in the Netherlands to make some money before emigrating to the United States... This being said, it is not a bad film at all.

Lead actress Annie van Ees is totally credible as a 12 year-old petty hoodlum, even though she was about 45 herself at the time. She actually looks like an adolescent boy: her face & mannerisms... The only thing that "betrayed" her is when she runs. She looks like a girl running.

The fact that she played the role on stage before has a lot to do with the fact she fits the role perfectly.

On the other hand, her delivery is quite stagey and at times fairly annoying... Boefje was her only talking picture!