EDVIN LAINE 100 YEARS, THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER 50 YEARS

A jubileum event at Orion, Helsinki, 30 March 2005. In the presence of Jarna Penttilä and Jarkke Penttilä. Åke Lindman, Matti Ranin, Matti Kassila, Kalevi Kalemaa, and Yrjö Varpio were the speakers in an event where the first three each offered a colourful imitation of Edvin Laine, the great man (actor and director) of the Finnish theatre and cinema. The Unknown Soldier is still the most popular work in the history of Finnish cinema: 2,3 million spectators in the cinemas, and yearly on Independent Day ca. 1 million tv viewers in a country with a population of 5 million. The house was packed, the feeling great. There were unseen glimpses of Edvin Laine's home movies on the locations of The Unknown Soldier (colour), Black Love, and Sven Dufva (colour), and the documentary shot in early summer 1955, Väinö Linna, Author of The Unknown Soldier.