''Laila'' is a 1929 Norwegian black and white silent drama film. The film was written, directed, and edited by

George Schnéevoigt George Schnéevoigt (born Fritz Ernst Georg Fischer; 23 December 1893 – 6 February 1961) was a Danish film director, cinematographer, and actor of the 1910s to early 1940s. Schnéevoigt was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 23 December 1893 t ...

Mona Mårtenson Monica Ingeborg Elisabeth "Mona" Mårtenson (4 May 1902 – 8 July 1956) was a Swedish film actress. She appeared in 28 films between 1923 and 1949. She was born and died in Stockholm, Sweden. Early career Mona grew up in Helsingborg and s ...

, Tryggve Larssen, and

Harald Schwenzen Harald Schwenzen (18 May 1895 – 16 April 1954) was a Norwegian actor and director. Born in Glücksberg, Germany, he relocated to Norway where he made his stage debut at Nationaltheatret in 1918, and played for this theatre for many years. S ...

played the leading roles.

Plot

Shopkeeper Lind is taking his daughter on a long journey to a distant church to be baptized. His daughter is with a servant in the last sled, which trails behind out of sight and comes under attack by a wolf pack. In the confusion that arises as they flee, the baby falls out of the sled. Jåmpa, a Sámi man, finds the baby and takes her to his Sámi employer, the rich Aslag Laagje, who adopts her to be his daughter. Laagje baptizes the child as Laila. A year later, Laagje visits Lind and his bereaved wife, and realizes that Laila is their daughter. He returns Laila to them, but not long afterwards the plague decimates the village and kills her parents. Jåmpa goes to the village and finds Laila in the care of an elderly couple. He takes Laila back to Laagje, and she grows up together with Laagje's adopted son, Mellet, who falls in love with her. Laila, however, eventually meets her cousin Anders Lind and become fond of him. After Anders helps rescue her after a canoe accident, they arrange to rendezvous at midnight, but Anders cannot come because his father falls ill and dies. Laila believes he has betrayed her and agrees to marry Mellet. With the aid of Jåmpa and at the last moment, Anders arrives at the church just before the wedding ceremony concludes. Laila and Anders resolve all and become engaged.

About the film

''Laila'' was directed and edited by

, who also wrote the film's script based on Jens Andreas Friis's . The book, originally published in Norwegian in 1881 as ''From Finmarken'', was translated into a Swedish in 1882 with the title ''Lajla : en Berättelse Från Lappmarken''. produced the film with as production manager. The interiors were recorded in Nordisk Film's studio in Valby, Denmark and the exteriors of Outer Billefjord and

Skoganvarre Skoganvarre ( sme, Skuvvanvárri) is a village in Porsanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The village is located along the Lakselva river and the European route E06 highway, about half-way between the villages of Lakselv and K ...

(both in

Porsanger Porsanger ( se, Porsáŋgu; fkv, Porsanki) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lakselv. Other villages in t ...

), Karasjok,

Bossekop fi, Possukoppa , native_name = , nickname = , settlement_type = Part of town , image_skyline = Ipy-bossekop-fig1.jpg , image_caption = View of the village (1887-1888) , pushpin_map = Fi ...

, Skjærvøy, Geilo, and

Ustaoset Ustaoset is a village in Hol municipality, Buskerud, Norway. It is located on Norwegian National Road 7 (''Riksvei 7''). Ustaoset is situated above sea level and is the finish for the cross country ski event Skarverennet. Ustaoset first came ...

. The film was shot by and Allan Lynge. The film premiered on 6 October 1929 at the cinema Palace in Denmark. On 12 October 1929, the film was previewed on the National Theatre Oslo, and on 14 October 1929, it had a Norwegian bi-premiere at the Circus World Theater and the in Oslo. It had a Swedish bi-premiere on 11 November 1929 at and the Olympia in

Borås Borås ( , , ) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 66,273 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Borås is located at the point of two crossing railways, among them the ...

. The title was named ''Laila'' in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, ''Laila - Die Tochter des Nordens'' in Germany, and ''Laila, La Figlia del Nord'' in Italy. In Norway, the film was distributed by Norrøna-Film AS, in Sweden by AB Svensk Filmindustri, and in Denmark by International Film (Sophus Madsen). Several of the actors in the film had previously worked with Schnéevoigt in the 1928 film . The movie was released in 2011 on DVD by Flickeralley.com.

Cast

– Laila * Tryggve Larssen – Jåmpa *

– Anders Lind *

Peter Malberg Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

– Aslag Laagje * Cally Monrad – Mor Laagje, Aslag's wife *

Henry Gleditsch Henry Cochrane Williamsen Gleditsch (9 November 1902 – 6 October 1942) was a Norwegian actor and theatre director. He was born in Kristiania. In his young days he participated in skiing for SFK Lyn. He married Synnøve Tanvik in 1932. He ...

– Mellet, Laagje's foster child *

Finn Bernhoft Finn Hugo Bernhoft (February 6, 1898 – April 27, 1981) was a Norwegian theater and film actor. Bernhoft was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway. He debuted in 1917 in Edvard Drabløs's touring theater, and he started working with the Trondh ...

– C.O. Lind, trader * – Lind's wife * Ibe Brekke – Magga, servant at the Lind house * Aslag Aslagsen Sara – Lasse, servant at the Lind house * Rasmus Christiansen – Jens Lind, C.O.'s brother * Alice O'Fredericks – Inger, Anders's sister * Mattis Morotaja – Mellet as a boy

Music

* "Laila's love song", music: Einar Ellgen and Fred Bjønner (Lars Minsaas), arranged by Kristian Hauger. * "Lullaby for Laila", music: . When the film was released on DVD in 2011, it featured newly composed music by Robert Israel, inspired by Edvard Grieg.

References

External links

* *{{cite web , title=Laila (1929) - Articles , website=Turner Classic Movies , url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/810966/Laila/articles.html , access-date=7 April 2019 , first=James , last=Steffen 1929 films Films set in Norway Norwegian black-and-white films Norwegian drama films Norwegian silent films Pages with unreviewed translations 1929 drama films Films directed by George Schnéevoigt Silent drama films