The Great Adventure (1953)

This starts off as if from something Beatrix Potter might have written with a family of foxes trying to survive in the Swedish countryside and stay out of the way of a menacing lynx. The vixen manages to irritate the farmer, though, by helping herself to one of his chickens and so shortly thereafter there is just one cub left to make it's way. Surprisingly it allies itself with a frolicking otter. When the otter is trapped by a wily old codger - after he'd tried to hit it with an axe, the young Anders comes to it's rescue. Swearing his younger brother Kjell to secrecy, they now set about rearing this wild animal as a pet. Luckily, their parents give them both quite a free hand and they seem to have a bottomless piggy bank, so they manage to sustain it's voracious appetite for herring and bond quite successfully with this curious and agile creature whom they name "Otto". Of course, secrets can never be kept but that's not really so important here. It's really more about the animal coping with the harshness of a Swedish winter and the two boys forming a friendship with "Otto" and with nature itself. Whatever you do, don't watch a dubbed version. The original von Sydow-esque commentary from Gunnar Sjöberg is a perfect match for the snowy scenes, the fraternal mischief and the seasonal conditions that prevail and the score has something of the "Bambi" to it, too, as it flits along. It's not without it's tragedy as the natural elements of eat or be eaten are reflected here, too, but these are sparingly depicted to remind us that it can be very dangerous out there but most survived to live, swim and fight another day. The youngest of the kids is really quite entertaining, but both deliver well in this very early example of a drama-doc, and with some creative camerawork throughout I really quite enjoyed this.