Eino Salmela

“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.

Heikki, a drunkard and agitator, steals money from his wife Hanna to go on a speaking tour to a village. There he falls in love with Anna, the beautiful daughter of his host, who is already engaged to Johannes, a farmer.

Poor high school students Toivo Päiviö and Unto Uramo solve their housing problems by enrolling in Sofia Andersson's boarding school. Toivo falls in love with Mrs. Andersson's deceased husband's niece, Aune, and begins to compete for her attention with opera singer Reino "Toreadoor" Kiljunen.