Cinema
Niskavuoren naiset
Valentin Vaala · 1938
Synopsis
In 1931, at the time of prohibition, a young schoolteacher from Helsinki, Ilona Ahlgren, arrives in the village, where she meets a fellow student, Anna-Liisa, the younger daughter of the great farm of Niskavuori. The old mistress, Loviisa, rules there; her son Aarne, weary of his marriage to the austere Martta, is drawn to the free spirit of the newcomer. Loviisa sees the affair coming and warns her son: Niskavuori needs Martta and her money.
Context
The first film adaptation of the play by Hella Wuolijoki, written under the pseudonym Juhani Tervapää, the film was scripted by Jaakko Huttunen, who had come up with the idea, and Orvo Saarikivi; Huttunen died five days after the premiere. The censors banned it for a time, Suomi-Filmi at first refusing the cuts demanded. Olga Tainio plays Loviisa and Tauno Palo, Aarne. Vaala made a colour version twenty years later.
Who it is for
A pre-war sound film, in Finnish; one needs to know what a large farm weighed in those days, and the weight of the wife's money in a peasant marriage.
Prizes and reception
Recouped in three months, a lasting success for Suomi-Filmi, and the first of the adaptations of the Niskavuori cycle.