Boys from the Streets

A neighbourhood story set on the east side of Oslo between the wars. Unemployment, strikes, poverty, drink, fathers who are not at home and mothers worn down; the boys in the street holding on to each other is the only soft place in the picture. At the centre is sixteen-year-old Karsten, looking for work and a direction, while the boys around him spend their free hours stealing coconuts off passing lorries. It was Arne Skouen’s first film, from his own screenplay, with Ulf Greber alongside him on direction. Released while Norway was still climbing out of the war, it drew large audiences and opened the way to Skouen’s long career in cinema. The summary in the record places the story in the twenties while other sources say the early thirties.