Fante-Anne
About Fante-Anne
A traveling mother and her baby are turned away from the Storlien farm and sleep in the barn. By morning the mother is dead. Farmhand Jon finds the child, and the family raises her as Anne. Grown, Anne expects Haldor, the son of the house, to stay with her. He marries Margit Moen instead. Anne sets fire to the farmhouse. Jon, a cottager who loves her, takes the blame and serves years at hard labor in Akershus Fortress. When he is released she meets him on the road, and he persuades her and his mother to leave with him for America.
Cast & crew
More about Fante-Anne
Rasmus Breistein directed, produced, and adapted Kristofer Janson's 1868 rural story. Gunnar Nilsen-Vig photographed and edited. Nilsen-Vig suggested shooting in Vågå, and he remained Breistein's cameraman for the rest of the director's career. Kommunenes Filmcentral and Norwegian cinema owners backed the production, a first for them.
Themes
Background
Norwegian features of the 1910s were often made by Swedish, Danish, or German crews. Fante-Anne was staffed by Norwegians in front of and behind the camera.
In film history
It is counted as the first Norwegian feature with professional actors, and the first with professionals at every job behind the camera. It opened Breistein's career of more than thirty years.
Making
Breistein played the fiddle himself at early screenings. Halldor Krogh wrote a new score for the 2011 restoration.
Look
Gunnar Nilsen-Vig shot the film in Vågå, on the rural ground the story is about, and cut it as well.
Music
Silent, with Norwegian intertitles. Breistein fiddled at period screenings. Halldor Krogh's score was written for the 2011 restoration.
Preservation
Restored and reissued in 2011 with a new score by Halldor Krogh.
Notes
- English title: Gypsy Anne.
- Aasta Nielsen plays Anne, Lars Tvinde plays Haldor, Einar Tveito plays Jon, and Johanne Bruhn plays the farm wife. Henny Skjønberg plays Jon's mother.
- The premiere was in Norway on 11 September 1920.
- Norwegian reference listings sometimes give 65 minutes. English Wikipedia and IMDb list 93.
- The film was restored and reissued in 2011.
Scenes
- Jon finds the dead mother and the living baby in the Storlien barn.
- After his release he meets Anne on the road and turns her toward America.
Influenced by
- Kristofer Janson's 1868 story Fante-Anne
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-gipsy-anne)