Runar Schildt

The man of the gallows is a little sinister wooden figure that the proprietor must sell before his death. If not he will be doomed and unsaved.

"With life at stake"- Max is illegal arms dealers and lives with Wanda, a spy for the dictatorship in which they live. She is ordered by her superiors to reveal the actions and members resistance group. The freedom fighter John falls in love with Wanda.

A thriller set in turn-of-the-century Helsinki, Stolen Death uses elements of German expressionism to tell the story of Finnish resistance fighters smuggling arms to overthrow the Tsarist occupiers of Finland. Tapiovaara stresses the divided loyalties of the Finnish bourgeoisie, torn between preserving their privileged economic position and taking a risky stand for an independent Finland. Stolen Death can be viewed as a thinly disguised protest against the rise of the fascist movement in Finland in the 1930s. Tapiovaara's allegorical indictment of class inequality and the suppression of free speech and political expression, coupled with his death at 28 fighting the Russians in the Winter War of 1939-1940, earned him almost a mythic status in Finland.