Kari Åkerberg

Danny is an amazing story of an adventurer whom the world loves. The film is a documentary about the colorful, eventful and dramatic life of Ilkka "Danny" Lipsanen, a Finnish popular music artist with an exceptionally versatile career.

The title of the Finnish film Elokuu translates to August. Directed by Matti Kassila, one of Finland's premiere filmmakers, Elokuu was adapted from a novel by Nobel prize winning finnish author F.E. Sillanpää. Simply put, the story concerns the decline and fall of a once-proud family, thanks to the alcoholism of its paterfamilias. Toivo Makela delivers a powerfully effective performance as the inebriated protagonist, avoiding the usual "drunken" cliches. The overlong running time, coupled with the downbeat nature of the subject, limited the film's worldwide appeal.

Colonel Carolus von Haestman, presumed dead by his family, awakens from his deathbed and sets out to find his childhood sweetheart, Amelie. His children and grandchildren, in turn, set out to find the runaway lovers. In the end, the funeral turns into a wedding and honeymoon.