PIPPI GOES ON BOARD (1969, Germany/Sweden)

Pippi
Goes on Board

(aka PIPPI GEHT VON BORD)
(1969, Germany/Sweden) color 84 minutes
Beta Film GmbH / Iduna Film-KB Nord Art / Constantin-Film
Story: Astrid Lindgren
Screenplay: Astrid Lindgren
Music: Jan Johansson
Cinematography: Kalle Bergholm
Produced by Olle Nordemar
Directed by Olle Hellbom

With: Inger Nilsson (Pippi Longstocking), Par Sundberg (Tommy), Maria Persson (Annika), Hans Clarin (Thunder-Karlsson), Paul Esser (Bloom), Beppe Wolgers (Papa Longstocking)

English Language Version:
(1975) GG Communications 82 minutes

Plot Outline: Having decided to stay on in the Villa Villekulla and not accompany her father to the South Seas, to the joy of Tommy and Annika, Pippi continues to turn things upside down in her quest for fun. Amongst many things, Pippi leads Annika and Tommy on a bric-a-brac hunt, throws a bizarre birthday party, causes chaos at a carnival, goes camping on a remote island, builds the World's biggest snowball and celebrates Christmas her own way. Pippi even takes on the Swedish education system single-handedly - guess who wins? With priggish Miss Prysselius - aided by Kling and Klang - still desperate to get the rebellious red-head into a children's home, and the two scheming rogues Thunder-Karlsson and Blom to sort out, the season of goodwill could prove a testing time for Pippi!

***

PIPPI GOES ON BOARD is the second film culled from the 13 part Swedish TV series, first surfacing in Germany in 1969 as PIPPI GEHT VON BORD and released out of sequence in America in 1975 (after PIPPI IN THE SOUTH SEAS, actually the third film). More random adventures unfold, though there is perhaps a little more cohesion in the editing and time structure. There is a natural progression with regard to the seasons (the fair-ground episode is clearly Autumn), leading through the first snow of Winter and to the wacky Yule celebrations as Pippi decorates her 'lemonade tree' in lieu of the more traditional Christmas pine.

PIPPI GOES ON BOARD contains some very funny scenes. One of my favourites is when the three children return from a day out kite-flying to find a near-demented Mr Settergren (Fredrik Ohlsson) practising darts in an attempt to emulate Pippi's throwing-skills... Called upon to prove that her earlier success was a mere fluke, Pippi proceeds to do even better the second attempt, leaving Tommy and Annika's father dazed with disbelief!

And of course the school episode is enjoyably anarchic, as Pippi facetiously deflects the teacher's attempts to educate her: Pippi hasn't much time for what she sees as pointless rules and social constraints. In the first film she had destroyed Mrs Settergren's coffee party and outraged Swedish mores, so why should a school-mistress escape unscathed? More mockery of this nature comes when Pippi dresses up as an old lady to fool Tommy and Annika, baffling them with spoof adult advice that verges on lunacy and that eventually forces even law-abiding Annika to stamp her foot and angrily interrupt the flow of gibberish! There is almost certainly a dig at Miss Prysselius (Margot Trooger) here, for this hideous harridan is still giving unwelcome advice to Pippi, and is as intent as ever on seeing her taken into care...

Thieving tramps Thunder-Karlsson (Hans Clarin) and Blom (Paul Esser) are of course skulking around, eventually finding themselves on the receiving end of an enormous snowball, courtesy of Pippi who has espied them making off with her money-bag! In this town crime certainly doesn't pay, though no thanks are due to doltish coppers Kling and Klang (Ulf G. Johnsson and Göthe Grefbo)...

The friendship shared by the three children grows ever stronger. This film contains the trippy scene where all three swallow magical 'pills' (dried peas!) in order to stay young forever... It's all part of their bonding process. The special relationship between Pippi and Annika is further cemented during a camping trip. On more than one occasion recklessly extravagant Pippi heaps presents on both her companions, but it's notable that at the fairground she goes out of her way to win a toy dog for Annika alone. Maria Persson rises to the occasion as timid, home-loving Annika, drawn to fearless Pippi (an attraction of opposites if ever there was one!), with Pär Sundberg's Tommy providing an ever-steady influence amongst the craziness.

On occasion Pippi's idea of fun borders on madness: at one point she attempts to fly by hurling herself from a high cliff-top, to the obvious alarm of Tommy and Annika... This experiment fails, but Pippi is of course unharmed and unabashed. The shot of her falling, flapping arms spread wide, reveals a positively eerie grin on her face. She seems momentarily quite scary, even demonic. This is perhaps the first hint that Pippi may possess not just great strength, but nascent supernatural powers too (by the last film these witch-like abilities have reached their logical - or should that be illogical? - peak). Incidentally, cut from the film's attic ghost-hunt scene is an extended sequence where Pippi dances crazily to a record called 'Witches Night', Inger Nilsson seemingly reaching a near-trance state as she caresses a bed-spring 'harp' (this episode is intact in the TV series)...

But Pippi has her human side too, and her vast strength cannot always mask her insecurity. She is after all a nine-year-old girl. In the run-up to Christmas we see Pippi grow sad as she feels left out of the family celebrations: the only parent she can confide in is her dead mother... Gloom momentarily infects the festive season. The look of sheer joy on Pippi's face when the town's children, led by the faithful Tommy and Annika, arrive en-masse at Villa Villekulla to present her with a trumpet, and their love, is something to behold and ends the film on an appropriately upbeat note.

Video/DVD availability: VHS (Unicorn Video, oop); DVD (???)