A rare Finnish Art House perennial from the’50s, unjustly forgotten. Shot, directed & edited by Erik Blomberg who also co-wrote with wife/star Mirjami Kuosmanen, a ringer for Dorothy McGuire. Here she’s a chaste newlywed hoping to boost her husband’s libido with a visit to the local spell thrower. (Maybe it’s all those layers of clothes needed even in bed.) But the groom is only thinking about the reindeer drive, thousands of the beasts needing constant attention thru the snowy landscape. But if her husband hasn’t taken notice of her charms, other men have. He does make a mid-drive pit-stop to gift his bride with a small white reindeer, but it can only provide so much satisfaction even as it possesses her. And worse to come as the spell (or is it simply the witch already within?) unbalances the settlement and the animals. Only a deadly metal-tipped lance aimed by the husband at the white reindeer can alter this cursed course. And that shot can still send a shock wave thru any audience willing to accept a folktale. Shot silent on magnificent locations, with all sound elements added in ‘post’ (including a full bore symphonic score from Einar Englund), what’s more important is that the film is æsthetically silent in technique and narrative logic. So if every turn isn’t laid out on a plate, the tone of the piece makes its effect. The film, appropriately enough, is bewitching.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Restored a while back, not all available restored editions are equally sharp. Something even more important with silents than for synch-sound pics. Sample first.
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