Elvi Saarnio

Like it or not, almost anyone who has met a really serious poet finds that they have something about them which sets them apart from other people. It's not just a romantic legend. In wry but basically directionless Finnish movie, Paavo Pentikainen plays one of these ungainly beings, a man whose last published work is decades in the past, who probably hasn't written anything in years, but who still has an uncanny knack for precise observation, "pinning the tail on the donkey" almost every time. In the movie, the poet, accompanied by his young assistant, takes a minor celebrity's swaggering tour of small cultural centers and retirement homes.

Three old men escape from the hospital and travel to Turku in search of one of the mens daughter

This biographical film celebrates the little-known life of the Finnish novelist and revolutionary Maiju Lassila (Asko Sarkola), born in 1868. Lassila's early years are briefly shown, then the film richly details his active and paradoxically reclusive adult life, beginning with his sojourn in St. Petersburg, working as a businessman. Unable to stay away from politics, he caused the assassination of a high-ranking Czarist and as a result, had to run back to Finland to hide. Once established in the comparative safety of a small village, he taught school in order to support his real vocation as a writer. Always living on the edge of poverty, if not square in the middle of it, Lassila continues to avoid public contact - he keeps his identity low-key and camoflages it by publishing under a variety of pseudonyms.

Finnish porn movie producer Pertsa returns from America to his home country to continue his profession with hopelessly small budgets and incompetent casts and crews. A self-ironic satire about director Donner's scandalous fame in late 1960s Finland, notorious for a graphic long shot of his penis pointing northeast.

The cold and ruthless Bruno is married to Karen. Together they seek out poor and defenseless people offering them life insurance policies. Bruno and Karen make sure that it pays off. A movie about insurance scams. Inspector Susikoski investigates.

Lonely ghost Mister Who goes around scaring orphan kids in this Finnish children's musical.

A story about Marja Maronen, a 30-year-old office worker who is self-centered and pursues love and wealth. After her father's death, Marja is plunged into a crisis that shakes her entire life, the consequences of which are particularly reflected in her relationships and working life.

Täällä Pohjantähden alla is based on the book with the same title. It is a story of the little village. The movie starts in the 1890's and it ends to the Finnish civil war in 1918. Story concentrates around a tenant farmer family, although it gives us a good look at the society at whole. While the class struggle depends, people of the village are driven to bloody civil war.

A story of a mink coat passing from one owner to another binding their fates.

Liisa, the daughter of fisherman Simeon, is having a romance with Peter, a city dweller who has arrived on the island. Liisa feels she is being punished for her forbidden feelings when her fiancé Antti's sister Maija falls ill with diphtheria and Antti is lost at sea in a storm.

A story takes place within one summery day in a place called Putkinotko on the shore of lake Saimaa in the early 20th century. Juutas and Rosina Käkriäinen are poor sharecroppers struggling to feed their ten children, so they run a liquor selling business on the side...

A young man arrives in the village. He becomes a miller and delights the girls in the village, which evokes bitterness in others. He is subject to moralistic criticism, even though he is in fact only in love with the tailor's daughter.

A couple decides to adopt a child. At the orphanage, they hear three different stories about the children who have arrived there and their fates.

A story of the conflict between the old and new orders of living.

A Finnish military farce about an elderly man who is commanded back to service.

In the 1910s, beautiful young Silja loses both parents and ends up working as a maid at wealthier farms around her village. She is courted by a number of bachelors, ranging from simple farmhand Väinö to sophisticated young student Armas whom she meets when working for a charming old professor. However, Silja's health starts to deteriorate, and when the Finnish Civil War breaks up in 1918, she is inadvertently involved in a small incident after which her loyalties are questioned by both the Reds and the Whites.

A farce about a wealthy young man who attempts to keep up his lifestyle even in the army.

Sailor is brought by the police as a recruit to the navy.

A melodrama based on Aino Räsänen's novel of the same name, continuing the story of the Junkker family.

Jooseppi Kenkkunen becomes a moonshiner in order to provide for his wife Kaisa-Reetta and his large family during the Prohibition era in Finland.

Story of first love affair during summer school holidays, in a pastoral setting.

Mauritz Grafvenhjelm, alias Moppe, an impoverished nobleman, and his friend Ville enjoy a carefree life as vagabonds in summery Porvoo until Moppe finds a large sum of money and receives a reward for it. After celebrating thoroughly at the Belvedere restaurant, he wakes up in the morning in a cell with no memory of what happened and learns that he has become engaged to the restaurant owner, Miss Svea Jonson.

Musical comedy about two friends trying to advance in music business at any price.

Maria Toikka is called to testify in a trial in which her husband Ville is charged. The assurances show the events that led to the trial from the previous fall, when Patron Oppman begins to approach Maria, offering her money in return for services.

After the death of his long-time housekeeper, a meticulous assessor has trouble finding a new one.

Lasse Pöysti's directorial debut film. And Helena Plays On (1951) is based on Aino Räsänen's second novel of the same name in the Helena series. When the Winter War breaks out, Arttu (Jussi Jurkka), the son of Helena (Irma Seikkula) and Jari Junkkeri (Erkki Viljos), go to the front. Arttu proposes to his girlfriend Elina (Leena Häkinen), but the world events come in between. When he is not heard of at the end of the war, the relatives begin to believe that Arttu is dead - everybody else but not Helena.

In the late 19th century at Längelmäki two men kill a mailman and rob all the money he carried. Based on actual events.

The young Count Martin von Tandenskiöld who has returned from the war is forced into a battle with a Russian colonel after he harasses his bride Karin. Chased by the Cossacks Martin escapes and joins the old wanderer. On the way Martin encounters adventures and beautiful women.

Three Finnish girls travel to Stockholm to look for work. But soon they notice that the big city is not such a great place as they thought. Most of the foreign men who they meet there are crooks and liars.

Poor orphan coffee delivery girl loves a poor painter who can't sell his artworks. Painter likes delivery girl, but has stuck in a friend zone. Delivery girl tries to help the painter to get forward in his career, but meanwhile a rich woman becomes too interested towards the painter.

A story about an upper-class student and a poor servant girl who fall in love despite everyone being against it.

In this story, which focuses on the events of a single evening, Kaarlo Kaarila, a dedicated chief physician, discovers that his wife Irja is having an affair with Dr. Alec von Wentell. The hospital's head nurse, Sister Magda, longs for Kaarila but suppresses her feelings. Irja's car accident sets off a series of dramatic events that force everyone to reevaluate their values in life.

The priest's daughter, Vappu Kankare first irritates and then admires the ambitious habitant, Jalmar "Jali" Kinnunen. After the studies, Vappu and Jali get married, but the marriage is disappointing.

The film revolves around Vihtori's clandestine involvement with an attractive and rather worldly young woman named Ritva, who is planning to marry boxing champion and garage owner Klasu Tullari, son of Vihtori's friend Tomi, and their interactions with daughter Vappu and her fiancé, Peter von Schaslick, a mechanic in Klasu's garage, under the nose of the threatening and suspicious Klaara, with lazy son Nisse acting as a rather sardonic Greek chorus. Teuvo Tulio's only comedy.