Worried about the ‘declining morals’ of 1950s Amsterdam, taxi driver Piet Amstel decides to emigrate to Australia. The government drive to build atomic shelters and the incessant Dutch rain only strengthen his purpose, as Amstel figures sunny Australia would make a positive change for his family. But first he needs to bring his daughter and her criminal boyfriend back on the right path.
Heintje Blom, a simple working woman, is told to move into a villa in a posh part of town. The inhabitants are none too pleased, but in spite of the class division a romance blossoms between the rich family’s son and Heintje’s daughter. The two families warm to each other in the end and the happy pair is united in wedded bliss. This comedy about the post-war housing shortage marked the return of the feature length Dutch film to the cinemas.
Mobilization on the brink of the Second World War divides a husband and wife. When lawyer Frans van Loon is called up to join the mine clearance service he doesn't want to worry his wife and keeps it from her. His secretiveness leads her to believe he doesn't love her anymore. She subsequently falls for the charms of an actor. When Frans finds out, a violent quarrel ensues.
This government commissioned film -- made on the occasion of the forty year anniversary of queen Wilhelmina's reign -- chronicles the lives of two Dutch families from 1898 to 1938 against the backdrop of the social and political events of the times. It shows the emergence of trade unions, the troubled years of the First World War, the development of aviation and Schiphol airport, the Dutch East Indies and the lives of the Dutch royal family.
Respected banker Karel Brand is seen as a marketable emblem of probity. When he loses 350,000 guilders, his reputation is tarnished – without the respect attached to it, he loses his job. Brand becomes unemployable, and his creditors suddenly start calling in their debts. His young daughter Willy suffers the same fate.
John Van Laer is the overseer of a vast rubber plantation in the Dutch East Indies. His new wife Renee joins him at the plantation, but the monotony of her existence and unbearable heat soon drive her to distraction. One of Van Laer's workmen takes advantage of the boss' absence to seduce Renee.
Fisherman’s widow Kniertje urges her two younger sons to set sail on the ‘Op hoop van zegen’, a heavily insured floating wreck which duly goes down in a storm. Kniertje is left behind, alone and lonely. Based on Herman Heijermans’ socialist-inspired Dutch theatre classic.