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

This film parodied as an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Season 4, Episode 22.

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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

The US version "The Day the Earth Froze" was shortened considerably from the original. Most of the names in the credits are fake names to conceal the European origin of the film.

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Connections

Featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Day the Earth Froze (1993)

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Soundtracks

Niin minä kana katoan, lintu kuolen liian surman
Written by Igor Morozov / Väinö Kaukonen
Performed by Eve Kivi

User Reviews

My kingdom for a Sampo!

Sampo......who can get that word out of their head??? It seems to be an infernal machine that makes gold, or salt, or flour, or something but whatever it does, everybody wants it and will go to any lengths to build one. This Scandanavian film has an unusual look to it but it appears that the print is faded, hence the washed out look. Or maybe it's because of all the snow and ice. But I must admit that I found it rather fascinating.

The lead actors play it pretty much without emotion except for the witch who is a total pain in the butt. It took me a while to figure out if it was a man or a woman; regardless he/she was irritating. It moves along pretty slowly and there are times when it is difficult to figure out exactly what is going on.....that may be due to the terrible dubbing. I hate dubbing.....give me sub-titles anytime.

The ending with the harps is insane. We should advise our military that harp music can be deadly and is a lot less messy than live ammunition. However, there is something rather endearing about this film that makes it worth watching. Of course, you need to see the MST3K version.... it is a lot more fun. Can you say Sampo?