Tapahtui kaukana

Edvin Laine: Kärlek bortom polcirkeln / [Love Beyond the Arctic Circle] (1950). Kullervo Kalske, Ansa Ikonen.

Kärlek bortom polcirkeln / [Love Beyond the Arctic Circle].
    FI 1950. PC: Suomen Filmiteollisuus. P: T. J. Särkkä.
    D: Edvin Laine; winter exteriors: Topo Leistelä. SC: Topias – based on the play by Valentin (1937). DP: Osmo Harkimo; winter exteriors: Sulo Tammilehto. PD: Aarre Koivisto. M: Heikki Aaltoila. S: Yrjö Saari. ED: Armas Vallasvuo.
    Location: Enontekiö.
    C: Helena Kara (Maire Lehtinen), Joel Rinne (engineer Antti Juvas), Kullervo Kalske (engineer Eero Sarkonen), Helge Ranin (executive Filip Lehtinen), Aku Korhonen (Sotka-Jussi the lumberjack), Martta Kontula (Kerttu Laiho), Kalle Viherpuu (Uula, the old-timer of Lapland), Topo Leistelä (Kaarinen, the hermit of Lapland).
    81'.
    A fine safety print from YLE TV Archive.
    Viewed on Wednesday, 27 July 2005 at Orion, Helsinki.

Another run-of-the-mill SF production, yet even in such fast jobs the experienced production team and actors' ensemble created solid entertainment.

Among the redeeming features:
– nice style of credits with snow crystal design;
– witty dialogue from the Valentin play edited for the screen by Topias;
– great sense of humour and timing among the actors, including Helena Kara parodying the lovelorn men of the Far North;
– the parodistic attitude to Romantic Lapland, yet with a true affection to the land.

Contrary to the contemporary reviews I feel that maestro Aku Korhonen overdoes it here (maybe ill-advised by Särkkä and Laine), yet his scenes in the kitchen boasting of his exploits are great pre-Rillumarei stuff. The triple dream sequence (three men dreaming of the same woman, Helena Kara rescued at night) is a funny idea but clumsily executed. – There is an interesting similarity between Aku Korhonen and Yoda.