Cinema
Siltalan pehtoori
Risto Orko · 1934
Synopsis
A new steward, Kurt Alarik Paul, arrives at the Siltala estate. He refuses the hovel intended for him and demands decent lodgings, under the admiring and astonished eyes of the maidservants. His first meeting with the owner, the beautiful Lilli Lind, goes badly: Baron Silfversköld has led him to believe that the mistress of the house is the widow Hanell, and Kurt treats Lilli as a mere scatterbrain.
Context
Based on Harald Selmer-Geeth's novel published in Swedish in 1903, and in part on its stage adaptation by Hjalmar Procopé, it was shot at the Laakspohja manor, in Lohja, with the star Hanna Taini. Its popular success owed as much to the romantic plot as to the songs and the rustic comedy. Abroad, it was sold only in Estonia and Norway. Its second television broadcast, in September 1979, still drew a million viewers.
Who it is for
A romantic comedy from the early days of sound film, in Finnish; one must accept the songs and the popular tone of the period.
Prizes and reception
The first Finnish film to pass a million viewers, and the film of its author's breakthrough.