Æsop’s City Mouse/Country Mouse gets yet another workout in this neatly turned Finnish production, written & directed by Roland af Hällström, very well-shot by Esko Töyri. (The restored print showing exceptionally lovely grain.) Apparently not released Stateside (you’ll see why), but a big success in Europe, particularly in France (you’ll see why), it’s a Pimp and his Prostitute cautionary about Jussi, user & lover of Marja. He finds the mark (out-of-towners with cash); Marja beds the victim; Jussi robs the guy blind. Only tonight’s ‘John’ wakes too early, a fight breaks out and he falls out the window. Jussi & Marja now split up and on the run. She winds up working at some wholesome farm thanks to a friendly stranger and her fiancé . . . and the inevitable happens. But Marja realizes that with her past, any future impossible. Especially as Jussi has found her hiding place. Coming to her senses when the two rival women share a Finnish sauna. That’s the ‘you’ll see why,’ as both women are shot with a frank nudity all but unheard of for 1946. (Both utterly lovely BTW.) Wrapping up with an ending that preserves a touch of ambiguity, the film no undiscovered masterpiece, but a solid achievement that makes you wish you could find more from Hällström. And particularly more from lenser Esko Töyri.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: For a City Mouse/Country Mouse masterpiece, there’s F.W. Murnau’s CITY GIRL/’30. Extraordinarily fine work from everyone, especially Country Mouse gone to the city: Charles Farrell; and City Mouse off to the country: Mary Duncan. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2016/05/city-girl-1930.html
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Not sure why, but the movies tend to have women as City-to-Country 'mice,' and men playing Country-to-City.
1 comment:
Quite an odd film! Starts (and ends) with a some heavy film noir elements (nightclub chanteuse sings while working women line up customers; a neon sign flashes outside a flophouse hotel window at night; a woman on the lam evades cops while reading newspaper stories about the crime; etc.) But as pointed out the middle is a melodrama about rival women on a farm (with that infamous sauna scene). Many shots look almost like a German expressionist silent, with male characters in heavy makeup and lots of closeups of characters' tormented expressions and minimal dialogue. Some scenes even have a visibly cheap, fake-looking background that almost seems intentional. Worth checking out!
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