| Adenis and Virsise | |
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Genre |
Romance, Action-adventure |
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Directed by |
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Produced by |
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Screenplay by |
Herbert S. Hosen |
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Starring |
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Music by |
Joseph Losenberg, Martin Carlotti |
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Studio |
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Release date(s) |
1961 |
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Running time |
94 min. |
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Country, language |
Brunant |
Adenis and Virsise is a 1961 romance film starring Anatole Bircamp and Annette Howards. It is the story of Adenis and Virsise, two starstruck lovers and was based on the book about the legend.
The film was produced by Liberal Arts Productions and Europa Films, and it reunited Alexander Koopman and Herbert S. Hosen (from Planet 68).
Plot[]
Adenis was the daughter of a rich Arab nobleman. Virsise was the son of a poor Christian merchant. The two were madly in love and were very happy. But one day, Adenis' father finds out she is in love with an infidel. Virsise's father gets word of this and does not want his son wasting time on women. The two fathers end up devising plots to separate their children, using witches, herculean labors and even another suitor. But, the plans backfire or end up failing. The two lovers end up getting married, and wanting to remain together in peace decide to take their lives.
Cast[]
- Anatole Bircamp as Virsise
- Annette Howards as Adenis
- Andrea Summers as the witch-woman
- Philip Vandrine as Adenis' father
Production and reception[]
Adenis and Virsise became the first adaptation of the famous story into film. The film was made in Dutch, though it was dubbed in English and Barzuna (the first big film to do so). Filming took place between 1960 and 1961 and it was done in and around Cape Cross. This was also the first Brunanter film to be entirely in Technicolor.
A&V was released to theaters in May 1961 and was an instant success. The movie was billed as "a romance for the ages" and "action, adventure and romance rolled into one", so it attracted a larger base. The film is considered to be one of the best produced in Brunant, but many experts at the time did not consider it good and felt that the use of color was only to attract people to a film lacking depth and emotion.