Axel Slangus
Devout Christians Töre and Märeta send their only daughter, the virginal Karin, and their foster daughter, the unrepentant Ingeri, to deliver candles to a distant church. On their way through the woods, the girls encounter a group of savage goat herders who brutally rape and murder Karin as Ingeri remains hidden. When the killers unwittingly seek refuge in the farmhouse of Töre and Märeta, Töre plots a fitting revenge.
Portrait of the Swedish poet Dan Andersson (1888-1920). Brought up during poor conditions he finds work as a temperance preacher and educator. Bored by this he travels to Stockholm to try to get his poems published. On the train he meets a rich, sophisticated art patron who encourages him and grinds his literary and philosophical formation.
Based on a Finnish poem, The Kingdom of Rye is a gorgeous romantic drama set in rural northern Sweden during the harvest. It features a young couple whose love affair is fraught with Hardy-esque complications and an unhappily married wife of the landowner.
“Tukkijoella” (Log River – 1928). Films of this genre gave the Finnish cinema and the viewing public one of its most popular characters – the lumberjack (tukkijatka, tukkipoika, tukkilainen) who at his most heroic hour becomes the log-roller or the shooter of rapids (koskenlaskija). The significance of this character in Finnish film is comparable to that of the Cowboy on American cinema. He is the pioneer, the wanderer, the adventurer. He negotiates the frontier, he is an embodiment of the conflict between wilderness and civilization.
A man stays with a fisherman and his adult daughter in coastal Finland, develops feelings for the daughter and begins to uncover a terrible secret haunting the family.
Fisherman Eerik Storm (Wilho Ilmari) is in danger of losing his home and agrees to get money to be piloted by smugglers (Axel Slangus, Uuno Aarto, Sven Relander, Armas Fredman, Berndt Lindahl). When the customs officers (Yrjö Somersalmi, Kosti Hypén, A. Virtanen) surprise the smugglers, a chase and a firefight ensue, in which the customs officers are confronted with water. By trading his life, Erik saves the customs officers. The film ends with an engagement party for Eerik and the pilot's eldest daughter Kirsti (Irja Lindström).
Rural comedy of the intrigues and stratagems involving a country wedding. From a comedy by Alexis Kivi.
