Pietje Bell

After the success of Kruimeltje, Peters adapted yet another book by former schoolteacher Chris van Abcoude. The youth film 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. From now on, people will have to deal with the Gang of the Black Hand.