The Flying Liftboy or Abeltje is a 1998

1998 in film

-Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...

 Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 directed by Ben Sombogaart

Ben Sombogaart

Ben Sombogaart is a Dutch film and TV director.His film Twin Sisters was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.-Filmography:*The Boy Who Stopped Talking...

. The film was based on the 1953 Dutch children's book Abeltje

Abeltje

For the 1998 film, see The Flying LiftboyAbeltje is a children's book by celebrated Dutch author Annie M. G. Schmidt, originally published in 1953 by De Arbeiderspers. It was one of Annie M. G. Schmidt's first children's books, and such an instant success that it was already in its fourth edition...

by Annie M. G. Schmidt

Annie M. G. Schmidt

Anna Maria Geertruida "Annie" Schmidt was a prolific Dutch writer, especially cherished for her children's books—"the most versatile and most talented children's book author in the Netherlands." She is called the mother of the Dutch theatrical song and the queen of Dutch children's...

.

Cast

• Victor Löw
  Victor Löw
  Victor Löw , is a Dutch actor.Victor Löw studied at Studio Herman Teirlinck in Antwerp. He played his first small part in The Northerners...
  
  ... Schraap
• Elleke Vervat ... a friend of Laura
• Roxanne Stam ... a friend of Laura
• Afroditi-Piteni Bijker ... a friend of Laura (as Afroditi Piteni Bijker)
• Taina Moreno ... a friend of Laura
• Nicole Sanchez ... a friend of Laura
• Soraya Smith... Laura
• Rick van Gastel ... Abeltje Roef / Johnny Cockle Smith (as Ricky van Gastel)
• Kees Hulst ... Schoolmaster
• Annet Malherbe ... Mother Roef / Mrs. Cockle-Smith
• Arnita Swanson ... TV presenter
• Marisa Van Eyle ... Miss Klaterhoen
• Frits Lambrechts ... Jozias Tump
• Nora Kretz ... Mrs. Tump
• Joseph Gudenburg ... Policeman

Awards

• Golden Calf
  Golden Calf (award)
  The Golden Calf is the award of the Netherlands Film Festival, which is held annually in Utrecht. The award has been presented since 1981, originally in six categories: Best actor, Best actress, Best film, Best Short film, Culture Prize and Honourable mention...
  
   for best motion picture (1999)
• Public choice award at the Montreal International Children's Film Festival

Plot summary

Young Abeltje gets a job as a liftboy in a department store. His boss tells him that he may not press the elevator's top (green) button under any circumstances. One time, when Abeltje gets into trouble, he presses the button, and the elevator goes shooting out the building and flies off.

Trapped with him on the elevator are a travelling mothball salesman, Jozias Tump; a singing instructor, Miss Klaterhoen, and a young girl, Laura. They fly across the ocean and eventually arrive in New York City, where they land in Central Park. In New York, Abeltje is mistaken for another boy who has gone missing. They leave New York and fly to South America, where Tump is made president of a banana republic and the missing boy is freed. A coup against Tump breaks out and the foursome once again manage to escape with their lift.