... from screenwriter and director David Bradley. Charlton Heston stars as the title character, a self-centered, aimless lout who upsets everyone in his Norwegian village, so he sets out to make a name for himself, with mixed results. Also featuring Betty Hanisee, Lucielle Powell, Charles Paetow, Morris Wilson, and Betty Barton.
This was an independently made effort, with a budget so minuscule that sound was not an option, so instead the movie is silent with intertitles, and only Edvard Grieg's music on the soundtrack. Peer Gynt is a title that I've heard for many years, but this is the first time that I've ever seen a production of it, so I had no idea what the story was about or really anything about it. After sitting through this, I'm still not quite sure what the point of it is, and I can't say that I'm impressed at all with what I could gather of the source material. Director Bradley makes use of lots of stock footage to try and build up his production, but the bare bones quality shows through all too often. The cast of local amateurs is exactly what you'd think they'd be, and while the 17-year-old Heston, making his movie debut, is undoubtedly the draw of the movie (I'm fairly certain it would have disappeared completely by now if not for his presence), he's not very good at this point.
This was an independently made effort, with a budget so minuscule that sound was not an option, so instead the movie is silent with intertitles, and only Edvard Grieg's music on the soundtrack. Peer Gynt is a title that I've heard for many years, but this is the first time that I've ever seen a production of it, so I had no idea what the story was about or really anything about it. After sitting through this, I'm still not quite sure what the point of it is, and I can't say that I'm impressed at all with what I could gather of the source material. Director Bradley makes use of lots of stock footage to try and build up his production, but the bare bones quality shows through all too often. The cast of local amateurs is exactly what you'd think they'd be, and while the 17-year-old Heston, making his movie debut, is undoubtedly the draw of the movie (I'm fairly certain it would have disappeared completely by now if not for his presence), he's not very good at this point.