''Reisen til julestjernen'' (Journey to the Christmas Star) is a 1976 Norwegian fairy-tale adventure film directed by

Ola Solum Ola Solum (17 July 1943 – 28 June 1996)"Ola Solum"
''Norsk biografisk leksikon'' was a Norway, Norwegian film d ...

and starring

Hanne Krogh Hanne Krogh (born 24 January 1956) is a Norwegian singer and actress from Haugesund and Oslo. Krogh is among the most selling record artists in Norway ever. She represented Norway alone at the age of fifteen at the "Eurovision Song Contest 1971" ...

Knut Risan Knut Risan (19 February 1930 – 1 February 2011) was a Norwegian actor. He was born in Trondheim, and made his stage debut at Nationaltheatret in 1956. He was employed here until 1998, and had guest appearances at the Norwegian National Opera, D ...

, and

Bente Børsum Bente Børsum (born 21 June 1934) is a Norwegian actress, probably best known for her roles in the movies ''Mors hus'' (1974) and ''Reisen til julestjernen'' (1976). Børsum had her debut in the movie ''Jakten'' in 1959, and worked at Oslo Nye ...

. The film was the solo feature-film directing début by

Ola Solum Ola Solum (17 July 1943 – 28 June 1996)"Ola Solum"
''Norsk biografisk leksikon'' was a Norway, Norwegian film d ...

. It is regularly broadcast by

NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

every

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...

. A remake of the film, directed by

Nils Gaup Nils Gaup (born 12 April 1955) is a Sámi film director from Norway. Career Gaup was born in Kautokeino, Finnmark County in Northern Norway. He first intended to become an athlete but from 1974 to 1978 he went to drama school and studied at ...

, was released in 2012.

Plot

The film opens in a small kingdom, a place in Wonderland. A castle with towers and spires stands over a small medieval village, surrounded by thick walls. The castle is home to the little royal family—the king, the queen, and their little daughter, Princess Gulltopp ('Golden Hair')—with their court. Around her neck, Gulltopp carries a beautiful golden heart she received from her mother, the queen. Then one night Gulltopp disappears from the castle, on Christmas Eve. She has gone out into the woods all alone to find the Christmas star that she desires with all her heart. Her uncle, the vain and power-hungry count, has tricked her into doing so. When the king and queen learn that the princess has disappeared, they are sad. The queen runs desperately out into the woods to look for her. The king curses the Christmas star, which he blames for his misfortune. But the king's curse causes the Christmas star to go out, and with it the queen disappears. Grief descends over the land. A traveling entourage of jugglers finds Gulltopp freezing and abandoned out in the woods. They do not know that this girl child is the missing princess, and they take her with them. Many years later, the same traveling group of jugglers return to the castle. It is Christmas Eve again, and in the entourage is also Sonja (i.e., Gulltopp), who has become a beautiful young girl. When Sonja hears about the king's grief, she offers to find the Christmas star for the king, so that he can get his wife and daughter back. The sages have predicted that, if the star begins to shine again, then the princess and the queen will also return. Sonja goes out into the woods to find the Christmas star. However, the count follows her. Out in the woods, she meets an old woman selling Christmas sheaves (). She is the queen, who has been transformed into an old woman. The old woman sees the golden heart that Sonja wears around her neck and understands that this is Princess Gulltopp. Sonja, pursued by the count, is helped by the woman and escapes Ulrich. But Count Ulrich catches up with her again. Then she is saved by little elves, who lead her to Santa's workshop. Santa says she will have her wish fulfilled, and Sonja wants the Christmas star to shine over the land again. The wish comes true, but, as Sonja happily runs into the castle to say that the star has returned, she is seized by Ulrich's men and thrown into the castle's darkest dungeon. The old woman comes to the rescue by extracting the keys to the dungeon from the guard and leads Sonja to the king. She proves that Sonja is his daughter by presenting the necklace with the golden heart. When the king is reunited with his daughter and sees that the Christmas star has returned, there is great joy in the castle and in the country. Ulrich is captured and the old woman disappears. When the princess wants to thank the old woman later that evening, she reappears. After Sonja embraces her, the woman is transformed into the beautiful queen again, and the little royal family is reunited.

Production and reception

The film is based on

Sverre Brandt Sverre Brandt (3 March 1880 – 16 July 1962) was a Norwegian theatre worker and playwright, born in Trondheim. He is remembered for his children's play '' Reisen til Julestjernen'' from 1924, which has been staged numerous times at theatres i ...

's play with the same title from 1924, and it was the first Norwegian adventure film in feature film format. With a budget of almost

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba, Nigeria, Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, ...

three million, at the time of its premiere this was one of the most expensive Norwegian films ever produced. ''Reisen til julestjernen'' was shot in the winter of 1976 at various locations including:

Akershus Fortress Akershus Fortress (, ) or Akershus Castle ( ) is a medieval castle in the Norwegian capital Oslo that was built to protect and provide a royal residence for the city. Since the Middle Ages the fortress has been the namesake and centre of the ...

, the

Norwegian Museum of Cultural History Norsk Folkemuseum (Norwegian Museum of Cultural History), at Bygdøy, Oslo, Norway, is a museum of cultural history with extensive collections of artifacts from all social groups and all regions of the country. It also incorporates a large open ...

Norefjell Norefjell is a mountain range in the Scandes Mountains system in Norway. It stretches between the valleys of Eggedal (west) and Hallingdal (east). It covers parts of the municipalities Flå, Sigdal, and Krødsherad, all in the county Busker ...

mountain, Savalen lake in

Tynset Municipality Tynset is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tynset (town), ...

Røros Municipality ( Norwegian) or is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Røros. Some of the villages in Røros include Brekken, Glåmos, Feragen, Galåa, and Hitterdalen. The municip ...

, and Nannestad Municipality. There was no snow that winter, and the film on the verge of being canceled. Truckload after truckload of snow had to be driven to Akershus Fortress.

Egil Monn-Iversen Egil Ragnar Monn-Iversen (14 April 1928 – 7 July 2017) was a Norwegian musician, one of the most influential modern composers in Norway. He has had many important roles in Norwegian music, film, opera, television, comedy and theater. For so ...

wrote several new songs for this film, including "Sonjas sang til julestjernen" (Sonja's Song to the Christmas Star) with lyrics by Axel Helgeland. The textile artist and costume designer Kari Elfstedt was in charge of the costumes. The film premiered at the

Klingenberg cinema Klingenberg may refer to: Places * Klingenberg am Main, a town in Bavaria, Germany * Klingenberg, Saxony, a municipality in Saxony, Germany * Klingenberg, a village in Elverum Municipality, Norway * The German name for Zvíkov Castle, Czech Rep ...

in Oslo on December 3, 1976, and

Princess Märtha Louise Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for t ...

was the guest of honor in the theater. About 75 copies of the film were produced, more than ten times as many as normal for a Norwegian film at the time. Hanne Krogh, who was 19 years old at the time, had her debut in film with the role of Sonja.

Harald Heide-Steen Jr. Harald Heide-Steen Jr. (18 August 1939 – 3 July 2008) was a Norwegian actor, comedian and singer. He was the son of Harald Heide Steen and brother of actress and singer Trulte Heide Steen. Biography During the 1960s, Heide-Steen Jr. made ...

, who played the fool in the film, was typecast in this role and unable to perform other characters for years. The newspapers ''

Aftenposten (; ; stylized as in the masthead) is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation as well as Norway's newspaper of record. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 daily copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen ...

'', ''

Verdens Gang (), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norway, Norwegian Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, declining from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. Nevertheless, ''VG'' is ...

'', ''

Dagbladet () is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally it was considered the main liberal newspaper of Norway, with a ...

'', and ''

Dagsavisen is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999. It has borne several names, and was called ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1923 to 1997. Eirik Hoff Lys ...

'' rated the film four stars. When the film celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2001, it was relaunched with new sound effects, refreshed colors and contrasts, new opening and closing credits, new digital image effects, and a new stereo mix. On December 11, 2009, it was also released on DVD. The film was traditionally shown every Christmas Eve in a joint broadcast on

NRK1 NRK1 (pronounced as ''"NRK en"'' or ''"- ein"'') is the main television channel of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). History Test broadcasts started on 12 January 1954, regular test broadcasts began on 13 April 1958, and regular bro ...

and

NRK Super NRK Super is a Norwegian TV (for children) and radio channel aimed at small children, run by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. The TV channel is broadcast on the digital terrestrial network, officially from 06:30 to 19:30 (7:30pm), and was ...

. In recent years, only NRK1 has shown the film from 1976, whereas NRK Super shows the remake from 2012. Watching the film is now a tradition for many Norwegians on Christmas Eve morning.

Cast

* Ingrid Larsen as Princess Gulltopp as a child *

as Princess Gulltopp / Sonja *

as the king *

as the queen / the old woman *

Alf Nordvang Alf Nordvang (15 December 1931 – 11 June 2007) was a Norwegian actor and theatre director. He was born in Bærum. He made his stage debut at Det Norske Teatret in 1954, was hired at Falkbergets Teater in the same year and Rogaland Teater ...

as the count *

as the fool *

Anne Marit Jacobsen Anne Marit Jacobsen (born 7 November 1946) is a Norwegian stage and film actress. Biography Jacobsen was born in Oslo to sculptor Thorbjørn Sigurd Jacobsen and opera singer Randi Heide Steen. She is the cousin of actress and singer Trulte Hei ...

as Petrine * Knut Walle as Ole * Marit Syversen as Columbine *

Rolf Just Nilsen Rolf Just Nilsen (31 August 1931 – 9 May 1981) was a Norwegian singer and actor. He was particularly known for his voice imitations. He worked for the theatres Studioteatret, Chat Noir, Edderkoppen Theatre, Oslo Nye Teater and Det Norske Te ...

as a harlequin *

Bjarne Andersen Bjarne Andersen (15 January 1909 – 13 August 1982) was a Norwegian actor, stage producer and theatre director. Personal life Andersen was born in Stavanger on 15 January 1909, to Emil Laurentzius Andersen and Ingeborg Bertine Osmondsdatt ...

as the astrologer *

Willie Hoel Willie Hans Karsten Hoel (16 June 1920 – 15 June 1986) was a Norwegian actor and comedian. He is best known for on-stage performances and for numerous roles, mainly comedic, in Norwegian movies, including the Olsenbanden movies. References ...

as a sage *

Johannes Eckhoff Johannes Nicolai Eckhoff (26 April 1919 – 26 October 2007) was a Norwegian actor. He made his stage debut at Trøndelag Teater in 1939, and had later worked for Centralteatret, Det Nye Teater and Riksteatret. He participated in the film ''Englan ...

as a sage * Rune Ek as a sage *

Julian Strøm Julian Tidemann Strøm (February 24, 1901 – October 7, 1992) was a Norwegian actor and theater director. He is known as a pioneer of Norwegian puppet theater. Family Julian Strøm was the son of the artisan Julius Strøm and his wife Marie K ...

as Santa

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0075128
''Norsk filmografi'': ''Reisen til Julestjernen''
1976 films Norwegian Christmas films 1970s Christmas films 1970s Norwegian-language films Norwegian adventure films Norwegian children's films Norwegian films based on plays Films set in castles

Plot

Production and reception

Cast

See also

References

External links