Translation done by
Kate Lambert
Aila, Pohjolan tytär
From: Finnish National Filmography
Source: Kari Uusitalo (ed.), Suomen kansallisfilmografia (The Finnish National
Filmography). Helsinki: Finnish Film Archive. Edita 1989-1999. 1951/5
Working title: Arctic Fury
Producers: Erik Blomberg, Michael Powell, Jack Witikka
Director: Jack Witikka
Script: Erik Blomberg, Jack Witikka, John Seabourne
Director of photography: Erik Blomberg
B-photographer: Auvo Mustonen
Sound: Harald Koivikko
Editing: John Seabourne
Set: Jack Witikka
Music: According to the records of the Finnish Composers' International
Copyright Bureau, Teosto, the film used only orchestral versions of Jean
Sibelius' music as follows:
Concert series Stormen (The Tempest), opus 109,
Prelude, Berceuse, Humoresque, Prelude and Miranda, total 9'06";
the tone poem Barden (The Bard), opus 64, total 6'22";
the tone poem En Saga, opus 9, total 3'37";
4 legends from the Lemminkäinen suite, opus 22, total 5'27";
symphonic fantasia Pohjolan Tytär (Pohjola's daughter), opus 49, total
7'05".
Photographic secretary: Lilli Witikka
Other participants:
Tauno Rova (guide for photographic team)
Narrator: Matti Oravisto
Cast:
Mirjami Kuosmanen (Aila)
Tapio Rautavaara (Reino)
Hilda Pihjalamäki (Morokka's mother)
Anton Soini (Morokka, Aila's father)
Jalmari Parikka (Shopkeeper)
Tauno Rova (Sami)
Ale Porkka (Sami)
Mogens Wieth (Harm, American writer)
Locations:
Exterior shots:
Utsjoki, banks of Tenojoki river, Outakoski (reindeer round-up), Enontekiö:
Hetta Norway: banks of Tenojoki river
Studio:
Fenno-filmi Oy's studio (Pieni Robertinkatu 12 - 14, Helsinki)
Filmed: March - April 1949, End of Winter 1950, Summer 1950
Format: 1:1.33
Film: Black and white
Laboratory: Suomi-Filmi Oy
Sound system: Aga-Baltic
Inspection number: 3465
Inspection date: 11.1.1951
Tax category: Vv (free of tax)
Age limit: 16
Length/duration: 2,100 m/77 mins
Width: 35 mm
Reels: 4
Copies: 3
Inspection number of trailer: 3468
Inspection date: 18.1.1951
Tax category: 15%
Age limit: S (universal)
Length: 60 m
Width: 35 mm
Copies: 3
Distributor: Suomi-Filmi Oy
Premiere Helsinki: 2.3.1951 Gloria
Other key towns: 23.2.1951 Pori (Kino-Palatsi); 25.2.1951, Kuopio (Scala);
2.3.1951 Tampere (Kino-Palatsi); 4.3.1951, Jyväskylä (Elohuvi);
11.3.1951, Lahti (Ilves), Oulu (Aula); 1.12.1954 Vaasa (Ritz)
Audience figures: Eki 300 (141/159)
Awards: A Jussi award for Erik Blomberg's photography, 1951
Performance rights: Erik Blomberg, Jack Witikka
PLOT SUMMARY
The narrator of the story introduces himself as American writer Harm, whose
surname was formerly Härmä. His parents were born in Finland and
after the war he has decided to get to know the land of his forefathers.
At the March reindeer round-up '500 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle'
he introduces the main characters of his story, the subjects of the 'tragedy
which is to develop': Reino is a hunter, originally from the south, while
Aila is the daughter of reindeer herder Morokka. There is an erotic and
conspiratorial tension between them: Reino is a reindeer thief and Aila
is aware of this but has not betrayed him. The morning after the reindeer
round-up Aila leaves for a five-day trip. During the journey her sleigh
tips over and the reindeer runs away. Trudging through the snow she is caught
in a storm and falls. Reino is travelling with his reindeer and when the
storm abates finds Aila buried under the snow. He takes Aila to a deserted
hut where the girl revives. During the night they become lovers. In the
morning men arrive at the hut, headed by Aila's father. Reino is not there
and his dog is shot. Aila explains the situation to her father.
A few weeks pass. The writer is a witness to an incident in the village
shop: Aila is shopping with her father. Her father wants a good rifle but
can't afford it. Reino comes into the shop and trades furs for the rifle.
He also chooses a scarf which Aila understands is intended for her.
Against the warnings of her grandmother Aila goes to meet Reino. She takes
him a puppy and receives the scarf in return. Reino says he will be leaving
to do his work as soon as the snow storm starts. Aila asks him to stop stealing
reindeer and declares her love for him.
Aila's father catches Reino red-handed and shoots him but Reino escapes
in a sleigh. During the chase Aila's father catches up with Reino who manages
to stab him with a knife and escapes to his cottage. Aila finds her father
wounded, covers him and rushes to Reino who she also finds wounded and bandages
him with her scarf. She returns to her father to find him dead. With the
rifle in her hand she skis after Reino who has lost his skis in his flight
and is stumbling along the side of the fell, often falling into the snow.
Aila catches up with him. With the last of his strength Reino shoots her
and she shoots back. Both fall to the ground and remain lying motionless
a few metres away from each other.
PRESS REVIEWS
Due to the participation of Englishman Michael Powell in the production
of the film and its intended foreign distribution, Aila - Pohjolan tytär
attracted much attention and expectations. Reviews were varied, some surprised,
and often contradictory.
'Aila - Pohjolan tytär is an event of a very special quality in the
history of Finnish film, perhaps it could even be termed a milestone' began
Juha Nevalainen (Ilta Sanomat). 'The film observes a principle which is
most natural, original and effective, in that it lets the pictures do the
talking. There are very few sound effects in the film and even the music
has been used sparingly.'
'Cinematography is all about telling a story with pictures' emphasised O.
V-ja (Aamulehti) 'but for the director as well as the actors this presents
major, new and surprising difficulties which are clearly visible here, especially
when the plot is very simple and straightforward (?) Jack E Witikka's style
of direction is long drawn-out and slow, often pictures just for pictures'
sake, which considerably prolongs the time it takes for the events to unfold,
making great demands of the patience of the audience, especially towards
the end when they must start getting bored with the winter landscape. Consequently
the result is an excellent anthropological description of Lapland, but it
does not allow the events to become a believable tragedy.'
'Above all, Aila is significant for its stunning photography,' agrees P.
Ta-vi (Helsingin Sanomat), although he complained that 'the basis of the
story itself remains poor and one-dimensional, instead relying on the effect
of the setting and the atmosphere itself (?) The film had the potential
to become an event which would have interested a wider audience, even in
Finland, had the narrative had more pace, better tempo and had the story
itself been developed or maybe even expanded to a certain extent.'
Erik Blomberg's skill as a photographer was returned to again and again.
'The strongest parts of the film are the documentary sections which provide
a visual, artistic depiction of life and the environment in Lapland,' wrote
H. K. (Huvudstadsbladet). 'The introduction is magnificent, absolutely impressive
(?) Here Erik Blomberg's camera artistry culminates in several series of
pictures with herds of white reindeer against white snow under a sparkling
sky.' 'The most bewildering aspect is Witikka's direction,' thought I.E.L
(NP). 'Once more events drag themselves along with nightmare-like long-windedness,
again and again it jumps over the links which would bind it all together'
the photography is the best thing in the film.'
Most reviewers praised the casting and the cast, although some mentioned
Mirjami Kuosmanen's 'posing' in some close-up shots. According to O. V-je
(Aamulehti). "Mirjami Kuosmanen is lively and has been photographed skilfully,
but her low key acting fails to create the atmosphere of a fateful tragedy.'
"her unique appearance makes Kuosmanen ideally suited to play Aila' (?)
just as Tapio Rautavaara is ideal for the role of Reino the robber hero.
His sturdy masculine expressiveness is a particular advantage in conveying
these 'unspoken feelings', while similarly Hilda Pihlajamäki's monumental
face wordlessly conveys the sense of a wise old woman.' B. Tavi (Helsingin
Sanomat).
NOTES
In 1947 Erik Blomberg had made a short film about Lapland with Eino Mäkinen
entitled Porojen parissa, which won that year's Jussi award for short films.
Jack Witikka (until 1942 Jakobsson) spent some time in the late 1940s working
as head of advertising for Paramount Films' Finnish office and as assistant
director at Parvisfilmi. In 1949 he obtained a contract to direct the Finnish
Opera and this was the subject on which he directed his first short film
Ennen ensi-ilta (1949) - photographed by Erik Blomberg - which won a Jussi
award.
In 1948 Witikka accepted British film producer and director Michael Powell's
invitation to find out about the British filmmaking industry. In winter
1950 Witikka persuaded Powell to promise to be one of the producers of his
first feature-length film, a drama set in Lapland, once more to be photographed
by Blomberg. Powell helped him to obtain cameras and got Dane Mogens Wieth
to join the cast and the Englishman John Seabourne to supervise production
and edit the film.
'Without Powell's support this project would never have got off the ground,'
said Witikka in December 1991.
The film was filmed in Lapland in March - April 1949 and in the early spring
of 1950. In 1949 the cast included Eino Jurkka and Sakari Jurkka. However,
the former was unable to remain in Lapland until the end of filming and
so was replaced the following winter by Anton Soini. The final version did
not include either of the two.
The script, entitled Arctic Fury, was written jointly by Witikka and Blomberg
and was modified during filming. The first version had almost no lines for
the cast and even the final version contains only 80 speeches. The name
of the female lead was changed from Leila to Aila and the family's surname
from Erkkilä to Morokka, while the name of the male lead switched from
Antti to Reino. The narrator was an entirely new addition in the form of
an American writer (Mogens Wieth) whose narrative voice-over was performed
by Matti Oravisto. John Seabourne (known as 'Jussi' in Finland) was also
involved in amending the final script.
Seabourne was Michael Powell's long-time friend and colleague of whom Powell
wrote in his autobiography A Life in Movies (1986) 'John was the most talkative'.
BIG QUOTE ABOUT SEABOURNE' up to " lucky the young arrogant director who
had Seabourne at his side'
Erik Blomberg talked about his own experience in 1981 (Filmihullu 1/1981).
'Seabourne wasn't on the same wavelength as the rest of us on the project
and he was a considerable hindrance and somehow the film became a miserable
compromise, not one thing or the other. I noticed the way things were going
even during filming and managed to pull out of any financial responsibility
for it. Of course I completed the photography right to the end and Mirjami
performed her part to the end but that was all' Then it was left to Seabourne
and Witikka to finish it off. Although Seabourne was the nicest man in the
world, he did manage to wreck that film. A man who is not financially responsible
for anything turns up, he's supposed to edit the film and he says "not enough
material" According to him he couldn't make anything out of the material
that he himself was involved in filming. Well, whatever, because nothing
really came of this, we decided to make our own Lapland film, which was
Valkoinen peura.'
The soundtrack used Jean Sibelius' music with the permission of the composer
himself. When applying for tax-free status for the film Jack Witikka emphasised
that Aila - Pohjolan Tytär was 'a serious attempt to create a basis
for Finnish film to conquer the international film market.' The intention
was to use the help of Michael Powell to get the exotic film world-wide
distribution. However, global success remained a dream. This was a 'film
in which the director's aims exceeded his abilities', as Witikka said in
1960. It is probable that on viewing the film Powell shared this opinion,
which meant the end of Witikka's plan to produce his next film, to be set
in a Spanish fishing village, in co-operation with Powell and his colleague
Emeric Pressburger. Witikka's career in film continued three years later
with Mä oksalla ylimmällä (1954).
The role of Aila was performed by Erik Blomberg's wife Mirjami Kuosmanen.
Her grandmother was played by 84 year-old veteran actress Hilda Pihlajamäki
who died a few months after the film was completed. The final scene bears
similarities with the end of King Vidor and David O. Selznick's Western
melodrama Duel in the Sun (1946).
Blomberg's photography won a Jussi award for photographer of the year.
The final name of the film was taken from Sibelius' symphonic fantasia which
was used on the soundtrack. The names listed as submitting the trailer for
inspection were Jack E. Witikka and the director of the Finnish Opera (Oiva)
Soini, then Witikka's father-in-law.
Aila - Pohjolan tytär's audience figures remained significantly below
the average for the year. The film has never been shown on television.
Under contract the Nordic rights were held by Blomberg and Witikka with
Powell receiving the other world-wide rights. However, the film has never
been shown in any other Nordic country. Witikka has no information about
other distribution.
Captions
Film crew in front of a campfire in early spring 1949. Tauno Rova on left.
Photographer Erik Blomberg (left) and director Jack Witikka. The camera
is a Sinclair.
Aila, Pohjolan Tytär (Mirjami Kuosmanen) and hunter Reino (Tapio Rautavaara).
Aila (Mirjami Kuosmanen) in the final scene of the film
