'The Village Shoemakers'
Nummisuutarit (Sockenskomakarna/ Sockenskomakarne)
Les cordonniers du village (French title)
Die Heideschuster (German title)

**
Finland 1923 B/W 83min Suomi-Filmi Oy

Comedy

cast: Axel Slangus (Esko), Heidi Korhonen (Jaana), Kirsti Suonio (Martta), Alarik Korhonen (Topias), Aku Käyhkö (Mikko Vilkastus), Konrad Tallroth
credits: dir. Erkki Karu (also prod. and edit.) music Jean Sibelius, Selim Palmgren, Toivo Kuula and Oskar Merikanto, DOP Kurt Jäger, story by Aleksis Kivi

One of the very first Finnish movies is silent as films of 20's were. It's about life in a village, marrying and how complicated that can be.

Of course this film is not the first Finnish movie (the first Finnish film work was made in 1907 and the first full lenght movie was - correct, if I'm wrong - Venusta etsimässä eli erään nuoren miehen ihmeelliset seikkailut = 'In Search of Venus, Or the Fantastic Adventures of a Young Man', 1919), but it's an excellent sample of our early movies.

TRIVIA: Aleksis Kivi's Nummisuutarit ('The Village Shoemakers') has been filmed three times (1923, 1938 and 1957).

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