The Day the Earth Froze (1959)

Based on Finnish mythology, this movie traces the exploits of Lemminkainen as he woos the fair Annikki and battles the evil witch Louhi. Louhi kidnaps Annikki to compel her father to build ... See full summary »

Director:

Aleksandr Ptushko

Writers:

Viktor Vitkovich (screenplay) (as Viktor Vitkovitsh), Grigori Yagdfeld (screenplay) (as Grigori Jagdfeld)

Stars:

Urho Somersalmi, Anna Orochko, Ivan Voronov

Cast

Credited cast:
Urho Somersalmi	...	Väinämöinen
Anna Orochko	...	Louhi (as Anna Orotshko)
Ivan Voronov	...	Ilmarinen
Andris Oshin	...	Lemminkäinen (as Andris Oshin)
Ada Vojtsik	...	Mother of Lemminkäinen (as Ada Voitsik)
Eve Kivi	...	Annikki
Georgiy Millyar	...	Sorcerer (as Georgi Milljar)
Mikhail Troyanovskiy	...	Soothsayer (as Mihail Trojanovski)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Anatoliy Barantsev	...	(as A. Barantsev)
Vladimir Boriskin	...	(as V. Boriskin)
Valentin Bryleev	...	(as Valentin Brylejev)
Anneli Haahdenmaa	...	Annikki (voice)
Maikki Hako	...	Kalevan kansaa
Hilkka Helinä	...	Lemminkäinen's mother (voice)
E. Hippeläinen	...	(as Emma Hippeläinen)

Storyline

Based on Finnish mythology, this movie traces the exploits of Lemminkainen as he woos the fair Annikki and battles the evil witch Louhi. Louhi kidnaps Annikki to compel her father to build for her a Sampo, a magical device that creates salt, grain, and gold. When Lemminkainen tries (and fails) to recover the Sampo, Louhi steals the sun, plunging the world into frozen darkness.

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Plot Keywords:

psychotronic film | russia | mythology | magic | kalevala | 

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Taglines:

The Most Chilling Terror Ever Experienced

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Genres:

Adventure | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Finland Soviet Union

Language:

Finnish

Release Date:

April 1964 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Day the Earth Froze

Filming Locations:

Jalta, Crimea, Ukraine

Box Office

Budget:

FIM1,000,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Suomi-Filmi, Mosfilm

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono (English version) 4-Track Stereo (original version)

Color:

Color (Sovcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the only Finnish film that had a 4-track stereo soundtrack.

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Quotes

Troll: [Ilmarinen hammers a viking ship out of molten iron, greatly distressing Louhi's trolls] What is to become of us?

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Alternate Versions

Four versions of this film were filmed at the same time: with Finnish and Russian dialogue and with normal and anamorphic optics. The Finnish version was subsequently edited to exclude some scenes that were considered to be unorthodox compared to "Kalevala", the original epic. Also most of the dialogue in the Finnish version was dubbed in verse form unlike the version that was filmed.

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Eegah (1993)

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Soundtracks

Kiitä sulho onneasi, hyvän sait, hyvän tapasit
Written by Igor Morozov / Väinö Kaukonen
Performed by Urho Somersalmi

User Reviews

Another beautiful Ptushko film spoilt by bad, unnecessary American dubbing

Like with Sadko/The Magic Voyage of Sinbad and Ilya Muromets/The Sword and the Dragon, Sampo (or The Day the Earth Froze for its American version) is an Aleksandr Ptushko film spoilt by bad dubbing that wasn't even necessary in the first place. The American version is incoherent and unbearably goofy, but the original Soviet-Finnish film is just lovely and it is this version that I'll be talking about now. Maybe the dialogue doesn't always flow and the middle's pacing is on the stoic side. However, it is a beautiful-looking film, the costumes and sets are in equal measure beautiful and eerie, the film is nicely shot with techniques that scream of Ptushko(and in a good way) and the special effects are simple but awe-inspriring and some are wonderfully weird. The music score positively sweeps, with the fantasy-adventure themes and folk-song-like melodies wholly appropriate. The story is also simple, but coherent and mostly attention-grabbing, giving us time to breathe and admire everything. While the tone is on the most part suitably eerie and profound, there are also some nice oddball touches that don't feel out of place(if there was anything at all like that it certainly wasn't as bad as it was in its American version). The characters are very like the characters that you'll find in a fantasy/fairy-tale and they are engaging. There seems to be a mixed reception on the Witch here, depends on the version seen I think, she is irritating in the dub but in Ptushko's original she is very sinister. The acting is solid and fitting for their characters. All in all, a lovely film but sadly it has a really bad dub that because of MST3K more people will be familiar with. 8/10 Bethany Cox