Synnöve Solbakken (1919)

Palle Brunius (1909-1976) and Solveig Hedengran (1910-1956) play in the Swedish silent melodrama Synnøve Solbakken (1919) the same characters as the stars of the film, Karin Molander and Lars Hanson, but then in their childhood.


Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Kontsforlag, Stockholm. Photo: Skandia Film. Still with Palle Brunius and Solveig Hedengran in Synnøve Solbakken (1919).

Love Vows
Synnøve Solbakken (John W. Brunius, 1919) was based on the popular peasant story by Norwegian writer Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, who in 1903 became the Nobel laureate in Literature. Synnøve Solbakken was his debut novel, first published in 1857.

Synnøve (Solveig Hedengran) lives with her parents at the farm Solbakken on a sunny hill. Thorbjörn (Palle Brunius), who lives at Granliden in the shadow of a big mountain, often looks wistfully up to Solbakken.

As teenagers they meet and fall in love. Another boy, Knud Nordhaug (Gösta Cederlund), is also yearning for Synnøve. Together with some companions he bullies Thorbjörn, who knocks them down. When Knud meets Synnøve's father, he gets him to believe that it is Thorbjörn who is the bully. Synnøve's parents forbid her to meet Thorbjörn henceforth.

Some years later Knud proposes to Synnøve, but is turned down. At Midsummer Eve, Thorbjörn ( Lars Hanson ) and Synnøve ( Karin Molander ) meet secretly. They renew their love-vows, and Thorbjörn promises to develop a better reputation in the village...


Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 127. Photo: Skandiafilm. Still for Synnöva Solbakken (1919) with Karin Molander and Lars Hanson . Sent by mail in Norway in 1920.

A Handful of Child Roles

Paul Gomer 'Palle' Brunius (1909-1976) was the son of the director John W. Brunius and actress-director Pauline Brunius. He would only pay a handful of child roles in films by his parents.

Solveig Hedengran (1910-1956) instead acted in some 28 films, mostly Swedish sound films and often supporting parts. Synnøve Solbakken (1919) was her first film.

The film, shot in Gudbrandsdal in Norway, was a huge success in theatres throughout Scandinavia and became a thematic guide for Norwegian film production in the 1920s.

Synnøve Solbakken would be remade twice. In 1934,  Tancred Ibsen directed an early sound version with Karin Ekelund as Synnøve and legendary director Victor Sjöström in a supporting part.

The third version of Synnøve Solbakken was released in 1954 by Gunnar Hellström with Synnøve Strigen in the title role.


Scene from Synnøve Solbakken (1919). Source: Norsk Filminstitutt.

Sources: Filmarkivet.no (Norwegian), Wikipedia and IMDb.