For all Amsterdam's reputation as a seedy fleshpot of vice and temptation, what the Dutch film industry has actually excelled in, over the years, have been sunny, wholesome family movies. Writer-director Henk van der Linden set the tone early, churning out 37 'jeugd films' between 1944 (Clever Richard) and 1985 (He Who Laughs Last), all set (and filmed) in his hometown of Thull. His example was later taken up by Karst van der Muelen, who made 12 features throughout the 1970s and 1980s—but despite the success of kid-caper flicks like The Gang Next Door (1980), the newcomer simply couldn't match the veteran's mass-appeal: one of van der Linden's comedies, The New Adventures of Billy Bunter (1958, pictured), became a full-fledged social phenomenon, and wound up becoming the longest-running film in history, playing continuously in cinemas across the Netherlands for 28 years.
