Heikki Välisalmi

Valentin Vaala's first sound film. Only fragments survive.

The film starts at the countryside, where station master Viirimäki is spending his summer holiday. He has gotten into the holiday mood to the extent that he wakes up from his stupor at the very moment he should already be getting back to work. Unfortunately the last ship from the island where he has been vacationing has already sailed, but as luck would have it, local residents Himanen and Kehkonen promise to help him out. Things turn out differently, however, and the attempt to help starts out an adventure filled with misunderstandings and plot twists.

Jack Coski (Jaakko Koski) returns to Helsinki and gets impressed by co-op Elanto.

Jack Coski (Jaakko Koski) returns to Helsinki and gets impressed by co-op Elanto.

Forester Antti Kare and manager John Freyberg travel north in search of millions worth of timber sales. The manager's giddy daughter Margit also secretly joins the journey.

“Tukkijoella” (Log River – 1928). Films of this genre gave the Finnish cinema and the viewing public one of its most popular characters – the lumberjack (tukkijatka, tukkipoika, tukkilainen) who at his most heroic hour becomes the log-roller or the shooter of rapids (koskenlaskija). The significance of this character in Finnish film is comparable to that of the Cowboy on American cinema. He is the pioneer, the wanderer, the adventurer. He negotiates the frontier, he is an embodiment of the conflict between wilderness and civilization.

The Burglary (1926), a drama film directed by Harry Roeck Hansen, is based on a play by Minna Canth. Niilo (portrayed by actor Joel Rinne), a son of a rich estate owner, is in love with a poor crofter’s adopted daughter Heleena (Kaisa Leppänen). However, on his father’s (Emil Lindh) orders, Niilo instead becomes engaged to Loviisa (Ester Roeck Hansen), a daughter of a wealthy landowner. When Niilo wants to call off the engagement, his proud and rejected bride begins to interfere with the lovers’ relationship with the help of Penttula (Yrjö Somersalmi), who is said to be able to perform miracles.