Finnish Films on DVD

[L.A.]

Some information for Anna-Liisa (1922) and about the restoration here.

[Finch]

Several Aki Kaurismaki films have been released on Blu-Ray last year including a bunch that Criterion have not picked up yet, such as The Man Without A Past and Drifting Clouds. This site is English-friendly and the discs currently sell for 9,95 Euros before shipping.

Most discs would appear to have English subtitles.

[Grand Wazoo]

Several Aki Kaurismaki films have been released on Blu-Ray last year including a bunch that Criterion have not picked up yet, such as The Man Without A Past and Drifting Clouds. This site is English-friendly and the discs currently sell for 9,95 Euros before shipping.

Most discs would appear to have English subtitles.

Does anyone have any of these, or have there been any reviews? I'd like to grab a bunch but I'm curious about the picture quality.

[criterionsnob]

I ordered the blu of I Hired a Contract Killer to start. Hopefully it arrives this week. I'll report back on the quality.

[Brevity]

Here's some very helpful posts by a user on a Finnish forum, with screengrabs, DVD comparisons and data:

Drifting Clouds, The Man without a Past, I Hired a Contract Killer, Calamari Union, La Vie de bohème, Lights in the Dusk, Ariel & Shadows in Paradise (page 9)
Juha, Crime and Punishment, Take Care of Your Scarf, Tatjana & The Match Factory Girl (page 10)

I've got the Cowboys discs and they also look good, though that's the extent of my technical expertise.

Edit: Links fixed for posterity.

[Matt]

Has anyone heard of a film called Miljardi vuotta ennen maailmanloppua (dir: Tapio Suominen, 1986)? Is it available on DVD? I suspect not, but I just thought I'd check. Apparently this and Sokurov's Days of Eclipse are based on the same source novel.

[L.A.]

Has anyone heard of a film called Miljardi vuotta ennen maailmanloppua (dir: Tapio Suominen, 1986)? Is it available on DVD? I suspect not, but I just thought I'd check. Apparently this and Sokurov's Days of Eclipse are based on the same source novel.

Not available on DVD here I'm afraid.

[criterionsnob]

I received my blu of I Hired a Contract Killer today, and have watched the first 20 minutes. The picture quality is excellent. There are no English subs, but the feature itself is English language. There are no special features. I will definitely be ordering more of these Kaurismäki blu-rays.

[criterionsnob]

This site is English-friendly and the discs currently sell for 9,95 Euros before shipping.

Most discs would appear to have English subtitles.

I ordered a bunch of these, and the quality is great, but this site no longer appears to have any of the Kaurismäki blu-rays listed. Does anyone know of another site that sells them for a comparable price? I'd like to pick the rest of them up.

[naersjoen]

Most still appear to be available on CDON.fi (I have no experience with this seller).

[L.A.]

In October the next silent film to be released on DVD is Meren kasvojen edessä (Teuvo Puro, 1926), an accurate translation is "In Front of Sea's Face". It is one of the first horror films made in Finland with elements of crime, drama and mystery.

No information about English subtitles yet.

EDIT: Delayed until December.

[L.A.]

In October the next silent film to be released on DVD is Meren kasvojen edessä (Teuvo Puro, 1926), an accurate translation is "In Front of Sea's Face". It is one of the first horror films made in Finland with elements of crime, drama and mystery.

No information about English subtitles yet.

EDIT: Delayed until December.

Before the Face of the Sea is now available, restored and with English subtitles. 9-minute documentary Ahvenanmaa / Åland Islands (1927) is included as an extra, in Finnish only.

[L.A.]

Probably the best Finnish film of all time, Valkoinen peura / The White Reindeer (1952) will be getting a 4K-restoration (carried out by The National Audiovisual Institute). The restored film has it's premiere next year to mark the centenary of the Independence of Finland.

Looking forward to this.

[L.A.]

Anna-Liisa (1922) reviewed @ DVDFreak

[repeat]

Does that make Gilbert the oldest living director? Off hand I can't think of any older.

The BFI did a website piece on this very subject a few weeks ago: The 20 Oldest Living Film Directors.

Wow, thanks for that. An interesting set. Are any of Kassila's films available to the english limited of us?

As far as I know none of Kassila's films are available with english subs,not even the delightful Inspector Palmu series.Palmu films have a huge cult following here in Finland,in fact about ten years ago they still had guided tours in Helsinki to shooting locations.I watch the quartet every year and I have sometimes thought that they would make an excellent Eclipse set!

Fansubs are available for Inspector Palmu's Error (1960) and The Scarlet Dove (1961), but for the love of God let's move this conversation to the correct thread, you made my heart skip a beat there.

Kassila's Inspector Palmu's Error (1960) is coming out on Blu-ray late 2016 from the Finnish Audiovisual Institute, along with The White Reindeer, Mikko Niskanen's The Boys (1962) and Toivo Särkkä's Vagabond's Waltz (1941). Given the excellent English subtitles on their ongoing (?) Valentin Vaala series I think there's a very good chance these will be English-friendly.

[Card]

Finnish citizen here. I only now noticed this thread, I could've helped you in the early days...

CDon.fi is a reputable entertainment shop. They can be contacted via [email protected] or the form at their site.

Discshop.fi is another well-established company. Contact: [email protected] or via the form.

Anttila.com is a large chain, the movies are listed under viihde (entertainment). You are probably interested about the domestic section (kotimaiset). The Anttila stores are currently carrying plenty of old black & white finnish classics, but they aren't listed in the web store. At the moment I'm writing this, Anttila is having a VAT sale, which amounts to about -10% on selected titles. Contact: [email protected]

[L.A.]

Kassila's Inspector Palmu's Error (1960) is coming out on Blu-ray late 2016 from the Finnish Audiovisual Institute, along with The White Reindeer, Mikko Niskanen's The Boys (1962) and Toivo Särkkä's Vagabond's Waltz (1941). Given the excellent English subtitles on their ongoing (?) Valentin Vaala series I think there's a very good chance these will be English-friendly.

Release date for these is October 28th. Cover art revealed, still no mention of English subtitles though.

[repeat]

Label site lists Finnish/Swedish subs only for the Palmu, Pojat, and Kulkurin valssi. Unspecified for White Reindeer but wouldn't hold my breath. Sad - but maybe a break for Second Run on Reindeer..?

(edit: their recent release of Eight Deadly Shots, which I understand was PQ-wise a considerable improvement on the old release (haven't seen it, but almost literally anything would be) was also unfortunately unsubtitled, so that title is also still up for grabs for internationally I guess)

[L.A.]

I contacted KAVI regarding those upcoming Blu-rays and got a reply. Because of budgetary reasons, only The White Reindeer will have English subs.

[RobertB]

White Reindeer I have heard of. Any other recommendations for Finnish films out on blu-ray (except Kaurismäki)? I don't need English subs.

[repeat]

I contacted KAVI regarding those upcoming Blu-rays and got a reply. Because of budgetary reasons, only The White Reindeer will have English subs.

Ok, cool - obviously the right choice out of those four! (And as mentioned above, the Inspector Palmu subs can be found online)

[repeat]

White Reindeer I have heard of. Any other recommendations for Finnish films out on blu-ray (except Kaurismäki)? I don't need English subs.

As far as I'm aware, these four will be the first 20th-century Finnish films (apart from the Kaurismäki ones) to come out on Blu-ray. That is to say, all other BD-released stuff is more or less commercial fare from the last 15 years, the possible interestingness of which I have quite frankly no idea whatsoever!

[L.A.]

White Reindeer I have heard of. Any other recommendations for Finnish films out on blu-ray (except Kaurismäki)? I don't need English subs.

Besides the upcoming Blus from VLMedia, this is on DVD only (with English and Swedish subtitle options and one of the last titles from Finnkino when they stopped distributing DVDs and Blu-rays) but if you like those sword adventures and swashbucklers in the style of Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power then Sadan miekan mies / The Man of a Hundred Swords (Ilmari Unho, 1951) is worth checking out. It was very rarely shown on Finnish TV.

The film is in black and white but here is a rare color trailer.

[Brevity]

White Reindeer I have heard of. Any other recommendations for Finnish films out on blu-ray (except Kaurismäki)? I don't need English subs.

As far as I'm aware, these four will be the first 20th-century Finnish films (apart from the Kaurismäki ones) to come out on Blu-ray. That is to say, all other BD-released stuff is more or less commercial fare from the last 15 years, the possible interestingness of which I have quite frankly no idea whatsoever!

The 4K KAVI restoration of The Winter War (1989) also came out this year (though there's been some grumbling over the disc's black levels). And there was an early disc of Häjyt (1999, though otherwise firmly within the point,).

As for non-Kaurismäki interestingness of this century, I want to put in a good word for a couple of my recent favourites available on English-friendly BDs. Kerron sinulle kaiken (Open Up to Me, 2013) is a well-written, well-acted drama which starts with a (transgender, though the film isn't particularly about that) woman cleaning a shrink's office being mistaken for the shrink -- and which gets rid of said misunderstanding, ripe for far more convoluted outcomes, with admirable quickness (as befits the title, literally "I [will] tell you everything"...). Päin seinää (Headfirst, 2014) is an equally well-written, stylish film with various miserable characters and black, dry humour. The disc also has two of the director's earlier shorts, also subtitled. And while I wasn't personally that much of a fan at least on first viewing, the dreamlike He ovat paenneet (They Have Escaped, 2014) is also worth a look. By the end, it certainly gets quite far from the usual Finnish fare (and got punished for it at the box office).

[L.A.]

The back cover for the Blu-ray of The White Reindeer (1952) lists English and Swedish subtitles. Release date October 28th.

There are extras as well: footage of the Jussi Awards ceremony from Finlandia Survey No 191, test shoots (in color) and Erik Blomberg's short film With the Reindeer (1947).