Pippi on the Run

Pippi on the Run
1977 (exact American release date unknown)
Nord Art/ G. G. Communications Inc.
Children's, Comedy, Fantasy, Musical
DVD
B

I think this is maybe a shade not as good as the other Inger Nilsson Pippi movie made specifically for the big screen, Pippi in the South Seas.  Run lacks the plot and action of its immediate predecessor.  To balance that, as the children and the movie meander, most of the scenes are set outdoors-- in woods, along a river, at a farm-- and this means nature shots, with lots of animals, from cows and a bull to badgers to owls to rabbits and a kitten.  This is the movie where Pippi is not simply strong but supernatural, able to turn a broken-down heap into her own version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by just flapping her arms and putting super glue in the tank.  She can also fly on a broomstick.

Tommy and Annika are as always along for the journey, and in fact goody-goody Annika's sudden preteen rebellion against her mother inspires the running away that takes up most of the movie.  Understandably, we see her and Tommy's parents (played as always by Fredrik Ohlsson and Öllegård Wellton) only at the beginning and end, and there are none of the usual villagers.  Instead, we get Conrad the inventor/peddler and the farm family, who provide much of the humor of the film in the way they interact with the trio, as during the dancing on the ceiling and the swearing contest.

I'm using a "musical" tag this time because the kids sing a lot, to raise their spirits and/or to raise money.  (Pippi leaves her gold pieces and Mr. Nilsson at home.  The horse ditches her for about an hour of the running time.)  It'd been awhile since I watched this movie (much longer than since watching the others), but having grown up with it, all the lyrics came back to me, like the ones about the "poor Turkish children who haven't any clothes."  I should note that even in the '70s, but especially now, I was struck by the cultural differences between the US and Sweden in regards to partial nudity of children.  There's nothing "inappropriate," but 9- or 10-year-old Annika would've been wearing an undershirt in the swimming scene if this were made in America.