Pietje Bell (9+)

This family film by Maria Peters is based on the first five books in the Pietje Bell series. It tells the story of the legendary rascal, a nine-year-old lad from Rotterdam in the 1920s. The sympathetic cobbler’s son is a boy with a heart of gold, but his foolish pranks really raise hell among the city-dwellers. An ailing newspaper manages to increase its circulation by putting every prank on its front page. This gives Pietje a couple of friends, like the penniless Sproet, but also some enemies, like the sneaky chemist’s son, who is secretly in love with his sister. When recession strikes, Pietje takes a job as a newspaper boy and collects donations for his own circus. By chance, he gets on the track of a gang of thieves. Nobody believes him; even Sproet lets him down. Then, Pietje decides to go underground and start a secret club to take on the gang.