Today, a new edition of The Netherlands Film Festival starts in the city of Utrecht. The NFF is every year both the home of Dutch cinema and the leading platform for the Netherlands’ national film culture. The 38th edition takes place from 27 September – 5 October 2018, and celebrates the achievements of Dutch filmmakers. And EFSP joins the fun again with The Netherlands Film Star Postcard Festival. We begin with a film special on the early Dutch sound film Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, 1934). There are four film adaptations of Herman Heijermans' stage classic Op hoop van zegen about a fishermen's tragedy: produced in 1918, 1924, 1934, and 1986. The 1934 version stars the iconic Esther de Boer-van Rijk, the senior actress who won a special mention at the Venice Film Festival of 1935 for her intensely tragic performance as Kniertje.
![Esther de Boer-van Rijk in Op Hoop van Zegen]()
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z / M.H.D. Film. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, 1934). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
![Esther de Boer van Rijk in Op Hoop van Zegen]()
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z / M.H.D. Film. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen (Alex Benno, 1934).
![Esther de Boer van Rijk, 6]()
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (Alex Benno, 1934). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
The play Op Hoop van Zegen (1900) is still staged in the Netherlands, and it remains the most popular play by Herman Heijermans (1864–1924).
Heijermans was the leading Dutch dramatist at the close of the 19th century. He was a writer of strong realistic and socialistic tendencies who single-handedly brought Dutch theatre into the modern time.
Op Hoop van Zegen takes place in a fishing village. A conflict between the fishermen and their employer ends in tragedy with the unsound boat setting out to sea and sinking with all hands and the owner pocketing the insurance money.
The third film version of 1934 was the first sound version and is also the first too survive intact. Of the two silent versions, only bits and pieces remain.
Alex Benno, the director of the 1934 version, worked as a gopher on the 1918 version and also appeared as an extra.
It was his dream to make a sound version of the film and to use the same lead actress, Esther de Boer-van Rijk, who had become synonymous with the part of Kniertje on stage. Willem van der Veer, who played the youngest son Barendje in the 1918 version, was cast as the unscrupulous Reder Bos this time around.
![Esther de Boer-van Rijk, Annie Verhulst, Op Hoop van Zegen]()
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, 1934) with Esther de Boer-van Rijk, Miep van den Berg, Anton Verheijen and Annie Verhulst. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
![Willem Hunsche, Anton Verheijen, August Kiehl, Op Hoop van Zegen]()
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (Alex Benno, 1934) with Willem Hunsche, Anton Verheijen and August Kiehl. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
![Esther de Boer-van Rijk, Coen Hissink, Willem v.d. Veer, Op Hoop van Zegen]()
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (Alex Benno, 1934) with Esther de Boer-van Rijk, Coen Hissink and Willem v.d. Veer. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
![Esther de Boer van Rijk and Coen Hissink in Op hoop van zegen (1934)]()
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z / M.H.D. Film. Photo: Maarseveen, Den Haag. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen (Alex Benno, 1934) with Esther de Boer van Rijk and Coen Hissink.
![Esther de Boer-van Rijk, Frits van Dongen, Op Hoop van Zegen]()
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z / M.H.D. Film. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, 1934) with Esther de Boer-van Rijk and Frits van Dongen.
The star of the 1934 film version was the 80-year-old Esther de Boer-van Rijk, the most popular Dutch actress ever.
She had played the tragic fisherwoman Kniertje in the first performance of Op hoop van zegen on stage in 1900 and the role had made a national icon of her. Through the years, she had played Kniertje again and again.
Driven by poverty and honour, Kniertje sends the last of her kin to sea. Her two sons will work on the ship Op Hoop van Zegen, of which some people in town doubt it is seaworthy.
She played Kniertje again in the first silent film version of 1918 directed by Maurits Binger and repeated the role in the 1934 sound version directed by Alex Benno. In the latter, the film actors Frits van Dongen and Jan van Ees played her two sons.
De Boer-van Rijk also appeared in a dozen more Dutch silent films, but Kniertje would always be her biggest success.
![Jan van Ees, Esther de Boer-van Rijk, Op hoop van Zegen]()
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (Alex Benno, 1934) with Jan van Ees and Esther de Boer-van Rijk. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
![Esther de Boer van Rijk, Aaf Bouber, Cissy van Bennekom, Clara Visscher, and Annie Verhulst, in Op Hoop van Zegen]()
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (Alex Benno, 1934) with Esther de Boer-van Rijk, Aaf Bouber, Cissy van Bennekom, Clara Visscher, and Annie Verhulst. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
![Esther de Boer-van Rijk, Aaf Bouber in Op Hoop van Zegen]()
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (Alex Benno, 1934) with Esther de Boer-van Rijk and Aaf Bouber.
![Aaf Bouber and Clara Visscher in Op hoop van zegen (1934)]()
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (Alex Benno, 1934) with Aaf Bouber and Clara Visscher. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
![Esther de Boer van Rijk in Op Hoop van Zegen]()
Dutch postcard by Cinema Palace / M.H.D.-Film. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, 1934). Probably published to commemorate the death of Esther de Boer-van Rijk in 1937.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z / M.H.D. Film. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, 1934). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z / M.H.D. Film. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen (Alex Benno, 1934).
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (Alex Benno, 1934). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
Herman Heijermans
The play Op Hoop van Zegen (1900) is still staged in the Netherlands, and it remains the most popular play by Herman Heijermans (1864–1924).
Heijermans was the leading Dutch dramatist at the close of the 19th century. He was a writer of strong realistic and socialistic tendencies who single-handedly brought Dutch theatre into the modern time.
Op Hoop van Zegen takes place in a fishing village. A conflict between the fishermen and their employer ends in tragedy with the unsound boat setting out to sea and sinking with all hands and the owner pocketing the insurance money.
The third film version of 1934 was the first sound version and is also the first too survive intact. Of the two silent versions, only bits and pieces remain.
Alex Benno, the director of the 1934 version, worked as a gopher on the 1918 version and also appeared as an extra.
It was his dream to make a sound version of the film and to use the same lead actress, Esther de Boer-van Rijk, who had become synonymous with the part of Kniertje on stage. Willem van der Veer, who played the youngest son Barendje in the 1918 version, was cast as the unscrupulous Reder Bos this time around.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, 1934) with Esther de Boer-van Rijk, Miep van den Berg, Anton Verheijen and Annie Verhulst. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (Alex Benno, 1934) with Willem Hunsche, Anton Verheijen and August Kiehl. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (Alex Benno, 1934) with Esther de Boer-van Rijk, Coen Hissink and Willem v.d. Veer. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z / M.H.D. Film. Photo: Maarseveen, Den Haag. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen (Alex Benno, 1934) with Esther de Boer van Rijk and Coen Hissink.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z / M.H.D. Film. Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, 1934) with Esther de Boer-van Rijk and Frits van Dongen.
Esther de Boer-van Rijk
The star of the 1934 film version was the 80-year-old Esther de Boer-van Rijk, the most popular Dutch actress ever.
She had played the tragic fisherwoman Kniertje in the first performance of Op hoop van zegen on stage in 1900 and the role had made a national icon of her. Through the years, she had played Kniertje again and again.
Driven by poverty and honour, Kniertje sends the last of her kin to sea. Her two sons will work on the ship Op Hoop van Zegen, of which some people in town doubt it is seaworthy.
She played Kniertje again in the first silent film version of 1918 directed by Maurits Binger and repeated the role in the 1934 sound version directed by Alex Benno. In the latter, the film actors Frits van Dongen and Jan van Ees played her two sons.
De Boer-van Rijk also appeared in a dozen more Dutch silent films, but Kniertje would always be her biggest success.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (Alex Benno, 1934) with Jan van Ees and Esther de Boer-van Rijk. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (Alex Benno, 1934) with Esther de Boer-van Rijk, Aaf Bouber, Cissy van Bennekom, Clara Visscher, and Annie Verhulst. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (Alex Benno, 1934) with Esther de Boer-van Rijk and Aaf Bouber.
Dutch postcard by M.B. & Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam). Photo: Dick van Maarseveen, Den Haag / M.H.D. Film. Publicity still for Op Hoop van Zegen (Alex Benno, 1934) with Aaf Bouber and Clara Visscher. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.
Dutch postcard by Cinema Palace / M.H.D.-Film. Publicity still for Op hoop van zegen/The Good Hope (Alex Benno, 1934). Probably published to commemorate the death of Esther de Boer-van Rijk in 1937.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.