Growth of the Soil
About Growth of the Soil
Isak (Amund Rydland) breaks a farm out of rough ground in rural Norway with Inger (Karen Poulsen) and their sons. The Danish director Gunnar Sommerfeldt, who also plays the bailiff Geissler, filmed Knut Hamsun’s novel on location in Nordland. The picture gives a long stretch to young Barbro, who walks into a river with her child and still ends with Aksel.
Cast & crew
More about Growth of the Soil
Sommerfeldt wrote, directed, and played Geissler. George Schnéevoigt photographed. Leif Halvorsen wrote the music. Norrøna Film released it. A premiere date on record is 26 December 1921. Wikidata times it at 96 minutes; the English Wikipedia says 117. Sami extras were hired from Tärna, across the Swedish border. Ragna Wettergreen plays Oline. Inge Sommerfeldt plays Barbro. Ernst Vaumund is Aksel Strøm. Karen Poulsen is credited as Karen Thalbitzer.
Themes
Making
Sommerfeldt put himself in as Geissler, the bailiff, and spent the production in Rana rather than on a studio farm. The Swedish Sami hired at Tärna are part of that location company, not a second story.
Look
George Schnéevoigt photographed the clearings at Rana, including Røvassdalen and the farms around Mo i Rana, Hemnesberget, and Korgen.
Music
Leif Halvorsen composed the score for this silent adaptation.
Preservation
A print survives, with published lengths of 96 and 117 minutes.
Notes
- Almar Bjørnefjell plays the young farmer Elesius. Sigurd Berg Bruland is the farmboy Brede Olsen.
- Sommerfeldt was Danish. The novel and the locations are Norwegian.
- The Norwegian title is Markens grøde.
- Schnéevoigt shot at Røvassdalen, Tverånes in Mo i Rana, Hemnesberget, and Korgen.
Scenes
- Isak and Inger make a farm where there was none.
- Barbro goes into the river with her child.
- She still ends with Aksel.
Influenced by
- Growth of the Soil (Knut Hamsun)
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Markens Grøde (1921) .webm)
