De greep

Summary

Short tragedy by Léon Boedels about an old man who has to watch his son getting tricked by his daughter-in-law, with serious consequences.

Misfortune, tragic developments, and a fatal ending dominated many of the early Dutch fiction films. For the American market, it later became common to add a happy ending to a film, but this was clearly not necessary for Dutch audiences. De greep fits into this tragic tradition.

The film tells the story of old Hardouin, who can still hear and see, but can no longer move or speak. Hardouin sees his son die in the wine cellar at the hands of his evil wife Rose. After the death of his son, the old man once again finds the strength to stand. Enraged and embittered, he strangles his daughter-in-law.

De greep is a film adaptation of the then-popular play 'La Griffe', by the French writer Jean Sartène. Influenced by international developments, producer F.A. Nöggerath Jr. and director Léon Boedels were among the first in the Netherlands to base a film on an existing literary work. But the adventure was short-lived: film distribution was still in its infancy, which made it difficult to sell or rent the film to third parties. Later, when the Dutch film industry had matured, Nöggerath would make a second attempt.