The Storholmen Brothers

Plot

The Sjölund family at Lillholmen Island in the Stockholm archipelago is quite religious and has therefore been regarded as a suitable place for the care of "odd young people adrift" who are to be placed there by the "Municipal Protection Society for Young Girls". One day, the fashionable Sonja Waller, a woman with a "questionable reputation", is expected at the island and the Sjölunds are waiting anxiously. Unfortunately, the young handsome Gunnar Andersson of the neighboring Storholmen Island has been sent to get her at a local steamboat bridge. Sonja, who is a pretty girl, immediately makes a great impression on Gunnar, who soon forgets that he is actually engaged to Aina, Sjölund's daughter. As Gunnar wants to show off for the new guest, the boat trip back to the Lillholmen is delayed for more than an hour. Back at the Storholmen Island, the general mood gets tense as all the locals are anxious to have a glimpse of the woman from the big city. After a short while, Ivar (Gunnar's brother) and Sixten (his cousin), along with the farmhand Snor-August, take off to the Lillholmen under false pretences. This angers Aina who herself maintains that she is actually engaged to Sixten, the heir of half the islet. Sixten is, for the solemn occasion, dressed in a seaman's sweater with the text "Waxholm I" (a famous archipelago steamer) across the chess. When Sonja arrives at the Lillholmen, Aina is horrified to discover that Gunnar and Sixten are almost obsessed by the new woman.

After having a look at her new home, Sonja takes off to the Storholmen to use the only phone available at the two islands. There, one of her friends back in Stockholm incidentally calls her. Sonja tells her about her new home and that the people there are really funny, and she jokes that the young men are particularly handsome. The friend gets interested and invites the brothers to Stockholm (a place where they have never been before), and the brothers take off to the city to see her at a nightclub. The young men are dressed in their black Sunday suits, and arriving in Stockholm, they have a drink at a bar where Sixten encounters a bald man (a classic scene where Sixten thinks that he should pull the poor man's hair). At the nightclub they meet with Sonja's friends, and they are quickly lost in the latest "Apache Dance". In quite a dizzy mood, the boys finally return to the Storholmen, where Sonja Waller has eventually reconciled with Aina - who now gets her Gunnar back. Moments later, Ivar proposes to Sonja, telling her that it doesn't matter that she is a woman with a "questionable background", and besides, there are "very few handsome women" in the archipelago anyway.

Cast

Production

The film opened on 31 October 1932, at the Skandia movie theatre in Stockholm and became an instant success, and was running at movie theatres on a regular basis for almost 40 years. It was filmed at the Filmstaden Studios north of Stockholm, with some exterior scenes filmed at various locations in the Stockholm archipelago. The film is based on the play Pojkarna på Storholmen - Waxholm 1:an, which originally opened on 9 October 1914, at the Folkteatern theatre in Stockholm. A later version, opened on 3 May 1928, at the Mosebacke Theatre in Stockholm. In this version, Fridolf Rhudin acted as Sixten, originally a supporting-role character, which in the final movie became the lead character, tailor-made for Rhudin.

Themes

An important theme is the strong religiosity of the locals in the archipelago, a backwater which stands in sharp contrast to the big city next door. Sixten has a continuous habit to say "Peace!" (Frid!) throughout the dialog, and that is, along with Fred Winter's cheerful song Waxholm Ettan, very much the trademark of the film.

Music