Arvo Kruusement

Directing

Arvo Kruusement

Born 1928-04-20 · Undla, Viru County, Estonia [now Lääne-Viru County]

Arvo Kruusement (born April 20, 1928) is an Estonian actor, theatre and film director who has made some of Estonia's classic novels into films; Spring (1969), Summer (1976), and Fall (1990) The movie Spring has been noted as the best Estonian feature film in the Top Ten Poll held by Estonian film critics and journalists in 2002. In 1970 the movie sold 558,000 tickets in Estonia (Total population 1.34 million) and in 1971 8,100,000 tickets in Soviet Union. Arvo Kruusement attended GITIS in Moscow, Russia from where he graduated in 1953. in 1953-1961 he worked as an actor at the Estonian Drama Theatre in Tallinn. In 1962-1964 Arvo Kruusement was the director of the Endla Theatre in Pärnu, Estonia, and film director for Tallinnfilm in 1965–1991.

Acting credits

Days of June poster
7.8

Peeter Saarmann has grown up in the Raidma family with the knowledge that his father was a casualty of war and mother died during evacuation. He is a university student who prepares to get married. During renovation Peeter finds a pre-war newspaper article about an enterprise that seems to upset his stepfather. The night before his wedding day, Peeter runs into a drunk man who calls Peeter an illegitimate offspring. When Peeter hears the truth about his real parents from his stepfather, he has the feeling that this could become crucial for his future plans.

Days of June

1958

The Wild Swans poster
6.0

Once upon a time, a King had eleven sons and one daughter. When his wife, the Queen, died, the King remarried. The new wife and the children's stepmother looks beautiful on the outside, but actually she's an evil witch. She sends the young princess Eliise to live in the village as an ordinary peasant girl and turns all the princes into wild swans. The princes are stuck being swans all day long and only at night can they regain their true form. When Eliise is 15 years old, she learns about the fate of her brothers and now she must overcome the obstacles put in her way by her stepmother in order to release her brothers from the spell.

The Wild Swans

1987

Yachts at Sea poster
10.0

After the war, young yachtsmen from the coastal town deal with daily work, training and competitions without knowing about the downside. Suddenly, mysterious events start to happen, testing the vigilance, ideological and moral beliefs of the local people.

Yachts at Sea

1955

The Red Violin poster
9.0

When Estonian violinist Eduard Sõrmus starts his concert tours in Europe, he is convinced that the world revolution is about to begin. His mission as a Red Violinist is to call the proletariat around the world to join with the revolution. It is only two things - music and revolution - that Eduard has dedicated himself to. His audience is enchanted by his performance and ignited by his ideas. With this knowledge, he travels Europe between the two world wars, accompanied by his faithful friends, his audience's admiration and the hostility of the authorities.

The Red Violin

1975

Spanish Version poster
NR

A story of a Latvian journalist spying for USSR in Spain during the civil war.

Spanish Version

1980

Dance Around the Steam Boiler poster
6.8

The movie travels through the 20th century by monitoring a steam boiler. We see the history of Estonia through life, agricultural work and people at different times.

Dance Around the Steam Boiler

1988

Nazis and Blondes poster
6.0

Veteran actors from the 3 Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - gather at a castle in Latvia to receive awards for their roles as Nazi villains in propagandist Soviet war films. They reminisce about the films that made them famous throughout the USSR, but also stigmatized the Baltic countries as Nazi sympathizers in the eyes of many Russians - a misconception that is nowadays exploited by the Russian media, desperate to label the Baltic countries as a fascist haven.

Nazis and Blondes

2008

My Younger Brother poster
5.9

School is over, final exams are behind — and Dima was the first to think of waving away from home. The convictions of his elder brother Viktor about a serious attitude to the future life only more “warmed up” the four friends, and for the first time they went to Tallinn for the first time without the bored care of adults...

My Younger Brother

1962

I Am Bereza poster
NR

About the scout girl "Bereza", her dangerous work behind enemy lines during the Second World War. Twenty years later, a journalist is looking for the heroine and interviews her...

I Am Bereza

1964

What Happened To Andres Lapeteus? poster
5.0

After a long night with his old war buddies, Andres Lapeteus regains consciousness in the hospital. How has confusion, bewilderment and alienation developed between these men who once fought together side by side? Is this the inevitable result of the Stalinist regime, the influence of his social climber wife, or the effect of his personal cowardliness and conformism? What happened to Andres Lapeteus?

What Happened To Andres Lapeteus?

1967

In One Hundred Years in May poster
8.0

Viktor Kingissepp has been the underground head of the Communist Party of Estonia for three years. He corresponds with Moscow, writes speeches for the members of the Communist Workers' Party and makes leaflets for the events of trade union. His purpose is to overthrow the Republic of Estonia since he does not believe in Estonian independence nor in any national ideals. Yet the clock keeps ticking, tuberculosis spreads rapidly, the world revolution is being postponed. What to do in order to make one's efforts work?

In One Hundred Years in May

1987

Visit of an Old Lady poster
NR

As a young woman, Claire left her hometown in disgrace. Now she is old and unimaginably rich, as for the first time she returns. The town is nearly bankrupt and in urgent need of money. Everybody hopes Clara will come to the rescue. And she will. However, there is a condition: somebody must kill the man who was her lover all those years ago.

Visit of an Old Lady

2006

Behind the camera

Võsakurat poster
8.0

Peeter Simm's diploma film about a forest-guard and a Kyrgyz Red Army soldier in Estonia during the German occupation.

Võsakurat

1976

Spring poster
6.6

Paunvere parish school students Arno and Teele, Toots and Kiir, Tõnisson and Imelik experience feelings during one school winter, the traces of which they carry throughout their future lives - from true friendship and first love to self-discovery and clarifying life goals.

Spring

1970

The Gang poster
6.5

Paul Madvig is a businessman in an American town in the 1920s, doing everything to maintain his power. He plans to marry Janet, the daughter of senator Ralph Henry who must be re-elected in order to ensure Paul's position. Paul is sure of himself and treats his competitor Shad O'Rory, who is involved in the gambling business, with arrogance. Then the senator's son is murdered. It is rumoured that Paul is behind the murder. Private detective Ned Beaumont, an old friend of Paul's, starts to investigate the case. Based on the novel "The Glass Key" by Dashiell Hammett.

The Gang

1986

The Smacking Sea poster
7.5

The Smacking Sea is a film about the work of traditional seal hunters on the smacking Baltic Sea and their life in the coastal village.

The Smacking Sea

1981

The Smacking Sea poster
7.5

The Smacking Sea is a film about the work of traditional seal hunters on the smacking Baltic Sea and their life in the coastal village.

The Smacking Sea

1981

Summer poster
6.3

In the beginning of the 20th century, Joosep Toots has returned from Russia, where he learned agriculture. He wants to start reforming his father's farm, Ülesoo. At the same time, he's competing with Kiir to win the love of Teele. Teele has stated that she agrees to marry with a farmer only. So Kiir decides to go to Russia to learn agriculture too.

Summer

1976

Don Juan in Tallinn poster
5.7

Don Juan arrives in Tallinn and soon the gossip spreads like wildfire. The local women trip over themselves to be seduced by him; the men race to defend their honor by challenging him to a duel. What no one knows is that Don Juan is a woman in disguise.

Don Juan in Tallinn

1973

A Woman Heats the Sauna poster
5.6

The story is about a woman, who has to heat up the company's sauna, because the bosses want to entertain foreign visitors. The sauna is situated in a small village where her ex-husband is from, and an old aunt of his is still living. In addition to having to face her bosses she also has to face her past.

A Woman Heats the Sauna

1979

Autumn poster
6.0

The main character of the film is Paunvere tailor Jorh Adniel Kiir. Two young seamstresses, Juuli and Maali, arrive in Paunvere. At first, Kiir regards them as competitors, but then he establishes friendly relations with them. Kiir marries Juuli, but he is not indifferent to Maali either. The film also follows Kiir's efforts to get his own farm.

Autumn

1990

Indrek poster
NR

Based on the second part of the pentalogy "Truth and Justice" by Anton H. Tammsaare.

Indrek

1976