Noidan kirot / Curses of the Witch (1995 Centenary of the Cinema restoration)

Teuvo Puro: Noidan kirot / Curses of the Witch (FI 1927). Hannes Närhi (the evil spirit of Jantukka, witch doctor from Lapland).

Trolldomens förbannelse / [Curses of the Witch]. FI 1927. PC: Suomi-Filmi. P: Erkki Karu. D+SC: Teuvo Puro - based on the novel by Väinö Kataja (1914). DP: Frans Ekebom. AD: Carl Fager. CAST: Einar Rinne (Simo of Utuniemi), Heidi Blåfield-Korhonen (Selma, Simo's wife), Irmeli Viherjuuri (Aaprami of Utuniemi), Kaisa Leppänen (Elsa, Simo's blind sister), Hemmo Kallio (Esa of Rantamaula, Selma's father), Olga Leino (mistress of Rantamaula, Selma's mother), Nisse Karlsson (Aapo of Rantamaula, Selma's brother), Yrjö Tuominen (Sakari Kippari, "Fat Sakari", a lumber boss), Hannes Närhi (Jantukka, a witchdoctor from Lapland). 

2070 m /24 fps/ 71 min

A Centenary of the Cinema tinted and toned jubileum print. 

Viewed at Finnish Film Archive, Orion, Helsinki, Kino Metsä [Kino Forest] 16 Sep 2009.

Our speed was too fast; 20 fps would have been more appropriate. The colour was too heavy, taking away the luminosity from the image.

Revisited a stolid Finnish mainstream studio film of the late silent era.

The film is at best mediocre. No sense of cinematic expression, just clumsy shots one after the other. No suspense, no psychology, no cinematic direction of actors. I would not include this in an account of Finnish horror cinema.

The best moment is towards the end: the reconciliation.

A typical example of the boring mainstream cinema against which the young Valentin Vaala and Teuvo Tulio rebelled. The Suomi-Filmi studio was completely out of touch withthe international development of cinema.

My blog notes on Noidan kirot:

16 Sep 2009  SEA Kino Metsä, Orion

27 Oct 2010 Film concert Noidan kirot (comp. Tapio Tuomela, cond. Jan Söderblom, Radio Symphony Orchestra, Finlandia Hall)