De avonturen van Pietje Bell

Summary

Children’s film about Rotterdam street urchin Pietje Bell, based on the books by Chris van Abkoude.

Pietje and his pals have decided to organise a circus performance and are creating every kind of havoc imaginable in the process. The performance is a success but just as Pietje is doing his conjuring tricks, a fire breaks out and the spectators run out screaming. Pietje and his friend Engeltje (Little angel) manage to put out the fire and take off. They end up on a barge belonging to two thieves who lock them up. They escape and the thieves are brought to justice. Pietje’s Auntie Cato breathes a sigh of relief.

Director Henk van der Linden is regarded as the pioneer of the Dutch children’s film. He made some forty feature length films between 1952 and 1985, often based on popular children’s books and cartoons, such as ‘De avonturen van Dik Trom’, ‘Sjors en Sjimmie’ and ‘Billy Turf’ (Billy Bunter). Van der Linden, who liked to keep an eye on every aspect of the production, not only directed, produced and edited the film, he also wrote the screenplay, designed the sets and worked behind the camera.