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:

mythology | magic | kalevala | finnish mythology | nature | 

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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:

FIM 1,000,000,000 (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

The 2014 Finnish DVD released by Finnkino is uncut, presented in the correct 2:35-1 anamorphic ratio, and has beautiful pastel color.

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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

Featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Day the Earth Froze (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

Eerie and atmospheric fantasy film

I can only remember seeing this movie once, back in my schooldays in the early 70's. The tile being "The Day the Earth Froze". What most comes to mind was the fantastic atmosphere it had, very dark, gloomy almost surreal. It was about a Sampo (as far as I could make out or remember, it was a machine for making either money or gold). Everyone in the movie seemed old, dirty and poor. I think it was their quest to find the sampo or retrieve it or something like that. I would love to know if the movie ever made it to video.