Peer Gynt (1934)

Peer is a young, strong Norwegian farm boy and womanizer, often overconfident and full of wild ideas. One day, at a wedding celebration, he meets Solveig. The young woman is his exact opposite: quiet, reserved, and gentle. Opposites attract, and the young rascal, who lets his family farm fall into disrepair, is immediately smitten with Solveig. When Peer’s mother, Aase, dies in his arms one day, Solveig is by his side, comforting him. But now nothing holds him to this remote, lonely place. The chance to escape the narrow confines of farm life and see the wider world has finally arrived: Peer Gynt is drawn to America, his dream for as long as he can remember. Even Solveig’s affection cannot hold him back. The faithful young woman lets Peer go and promises to wait for him. Soon afterward, Gynt finds a ship willing to take him on as a junior sailor. Its owner is the elegant Baroness Agga, who plans to recover a treasure with her companion, Parker. Never one to turn down an adventure, Peer charms the baroness and soon joins the search for the treasure himself. Much to Parker’s displeasure, Peer Gynt is soon taken on as a third business partner. The baroness thus gives him not only power and money, but also soon introduces him to so-called “high society.” Before long, the Norwegian parvenu owns his own Peer Gynt Company and a fleet of ships carrying goods across the seven seas. Peer believes the time has come to get rid of his partners, whom he increasingly finds a nuisance. Peer Gynt’s character begins to change; the pursuit of money, fame, and power drives his actions. He still cannot resist chasing after every woman. Affairs dominate his private life, while he soon becomes active in other areas of business as well: for instance, he has copper mined in Africa and founds entire cities. There, he personally suppresses an Arab uprising that threatens his property. Before long, he controls large parts of the African continent economically. Only after Peer Gynt saves an Arab girl named Anitra, who is about to die in a sandstorm, does he come to his senses. Genuine feelings, buried ever since he left Solveig, come to the surface. Peer realizes this at the latest when, during a celebration held in his honor, angry locals who dislike Arabs destroy his house. The vandals then abduct Anitra as well. Just before this, Peer Gynt had made a decision that was to turn his life around completely: in light of a far-reaching realization—“I have conquered the world and lost myself in the process”—he wanted to give all his possessions to his employees. Now he has nothing—but in a way entirely different from what he had planned. To save his new love, Peer wanders through the desert at night, searching constantly for Anitra. He loses his way and is robbed. Ragged and broken, he eventually reaches a harbor tavern. There he meets sailors from his homeland, and Peer realizes that nothing is keeping him here in Africa anymore. The sailors take him aboard their ship, bound for Norway. When Gynt returns to his family farm, he has grown old and tired, a broken man. But, contrary to his expectations, the farm has not fallen completely into ruin: the fields are cultivated, and the house has been put in order. A woman is sitting outside. It is Solveig. She recognizes him immediately. As she once promised, she has waited for him. Only now does Peer Gynt truly learn to value happiness, loyalty, and an unwavering love for his homeland.