Simon Beyers

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Simon Beyers is an Afrikaans film by Pierre de Wet (1909-1990).

The film

It was only the second full-length Afrikaans film to be produced in South Africa and the first to come from the studios of the Afrikaans film company known as the Suid Afrikaanse Rolprent Maatskappy.

It is an adaptation of Die Goeie Oue Tyd ("The good old times"), a 1944 stage play by Sita de Kock, itself based on a theme originally suggested by the actress Anna Neethling-Pohl and originally written for and performed by the Pierre de Wet Geselskap, a touring company, in 1944.

The theme is related to an actual incident during the days of Simon van der Stel, when about 50 orphan girls were sent from Holland as wives for the burgers at the Cape. The film deals with the story of four characters, one of the girls, shy, clumsy and stricken with scurvy, who is destined to marry a wealthy burger named "Simon Beyers", her young sister, and Simon's brother.

The cast consisted of Pikkie Uys, Pierre Wet, Eugenie Heyns and Gert van den Bergh.

It was shown for the first time in 1947.

Sources

Saturday Post, September 6, 1947.


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