Kultainen kynttilänjalka / [The Golden Candlestick] (in the presence of Rauha Puntti)

Kultainen kynttilänjalka. Mirjami Kuosmanen (Erna), Edvin Laine (Markus Mäntylä / Markus Hormi).

Den gyllene ljusstaken. FI 1946. PC: Fenno-Filmi. EX: Yrjö Norta. P: Emil Viljanen. D: Edvin Laine. SC: Laine, Erkki Uotila from a treatment by Toivo Kauppinen. DP: Esko Töyri. PD: Karl Fager.
    M: Heikki Aaltoila. Schubert: "Ständchen" (sung twice in Finnish). Mozart: "Voi che sapete" from Le nozze di Figaro. Mendelssohn: "Hochzeitmarsch". Liszt: "Liebestraum".
    ED: Yrjö Norta. Sound. Emil Häkkänen.
    Starring Edvin Laine (Markus Mäntylä = Markus Hormi), Mirjam Novero (Asta Kataja), Rauha Puntti (Ulla Karpela), Esko Saha (Lauri Takala), Jalmari Rinne (banker Kataja), Matti Aulos (O. Takala), Emma Vänänen (Mrs. Takala), Mirjami Kuosmanen (Erna), Paavo Jännes (Reverend Karpela), Enni Rekola (Fanny). 110 min
    A vintage nitrate print with a deep silver glow even in the many dark scenes. Swedish subtitles.
    In the presence of Ms. Rauha Puntti, the sole survivor of the production.
    Viewed in Orion, Helsinki, 1 June 2005.

An expressionistic crime melodrama so heavily overdone, the production year might be 50 years earlier. It's the story of a criminal (Laine) who leads a double life and wants to get established in high society. He has become an influential financier and finds a wife (Novero, his real-life spouse) who is fascinated by his reputation as a ladies' man. There is even a sinister maid (Rekola) whose task it is to drug the wife while the man is away. Subtle it ain't, but there are some fascinating sequences. The best one is the second "Ständchen" scene, where there is a brilliantly caricatured montage of expressions and reactions. The second story is about the young musicians-lovers (Puntti, Saha) who get caught in the criminal's web. They get to walk together towards the light in the end. The story of the golden candlestick is reminiscent of Les Misérables: it becomes the voice of conscience.