De Witte is a Belgian film of 1934 in black and white, directed by Jan Vanderheyden. It is an adaptation of the homonymous book by

Ernest Claes Andreas Ernestus Josephus Claes (24 October 1885 in Zichem – 2 September 1968 in Elsene) was a Belgian author. He is best known for his regional novels, including ''De Witte'' ("Whitey"), which was the source material for the first Flemish mov ...

. ''De Witte'' was the first

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

film production with sound and at the same time it was also very successful. Weeks after the première in Antwerp's Cinema Colosseum the public kept coming to the picture.

Plot

The story describes the boyishnesses of Louis Verheyden, a white-haired rascal (usually nicknamed "de witte", meaning "the white one") in

Zichem Zichem is a village of the town of Scherpenheuvel-Zichem in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. Zichem was an independent municipality until the municipal redistribution of 1977. Zichem is on the list of The most beautiful villages in Flanders ...

, a village at the countryside; in the film everything happens from the child's perspective.

Edith Kiel Edith Kiel (30 June 1904 – 12 September 1993) was a German film producer, screenwriter, film editor, editor and film director, director who worked mainly in the Flanders, Flemish section of the Cinema of Belgium, Belgian film – industry ...

added a love story to the original storyline made by Ernest Claes, something the original author did not like. Another adaptation with which the Church instead had difficulties was the minimalized role of the village priest. The main role was interpreted by Jef Bruyninckx.

Remake

In 1980, a new version came out, directed by

Robbe De Hert Robin François De Hert (20 September 1942 – 24 August 2020) was a Belgian film director. De Hert won the André Cavens Award for Best Film in 2000, with his film '' Lijmen/Het Been''. He died on 24 August 2020 at the age of 77 due to compli ...

and with the Dutch title De Witte van Sichem. The English name of the movie is Whitey.

References

External links

* 1930s Dutch-language films 1934 films Belgian black-and-white films Films set in Belgium Films based on works by Ernest Claes Films set in the 1900s Child characters in film Belgian comedy films 1934 comedy films Dutch-language Belgian films {{Belgium-film-stub