Hjalmar Bendtsen

Directed by Danish filmmakers Bjarne and Astrid Henning-Jensen, THOSE BLASTED KIDS tells a story of a group of back-alley urchins that is considered Denmark’s first true children’s film.

Peter Vipperup is a tailor in a small provincial town. He has to work hard to make ends meet for himself and his family. One fine day, Vipperup's brother, Andres, returns home from America. He is a completely different type than the little Lapp tailor, and he has had good luck on the other side of the Atlantic. A few cunning minds in town have seen through Andres' wealth and devise a plan to secure a share of the wealth by appointing the tailor as director of a newly started bank - and then exploiting his naivety.

The small local train trundles laboriously into Torslev station. The stationmaster is standing on the platform wearing slippers, waiting for the train. When it stops, it turns out that there is only one passenger on board. A younger, strange-looking, elegantly dressed man steps onto the platform with a couple of suitcases with lots of nice brands from foreign countries. The man's name is Nelson. Many years ago he went abroad. Now he is returning home to see how things are in his hometown.

Spanning three generations, the film depicts life in Copenhagen from the perspective of the working class. The film portrays the development of the city, the new opportunities arising and the improved living conditions created as the welfare state expands. ‘From darkness towards light’ is Denmark’s first-ever Social Democratic propaganda film, and it was part of the election campaign leading up to the local elections in 1929. (stumfilm.dk)

Orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman. Reunited with his childhood patron, Miss Havisham, and his first love, the beautiful but emotionally cold Estella, he discovers that the elderly spinster has gone mad from having been left at the altar as a young woman, and has made her charge into a warped, unfeeling heartbreaker.