Anna-Liisa

1922 Drama 70 minutes Directed by Teuvo Puro

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About Anna-Liisa

In rural Finland at the end of the nineteenth century, nineteen-year-old Anna-Liisa Kortesuo is about to marry Johannes Kivimaa. Days before the banns, Husso arrives. She is the mother of Mikko, once a hired man on the farm. Mikko and Husso threaten to tell Anna-Liisa's secret unless she marries Mikko. When she still refuses, Husso tells the parents what happened four years earlier: Anna-Liisa killed the baby she had with Mikko. She confesses. Her father first wants to kill her, then steadies. The next day she walks into the water to join the child. Johannes pulls her out. She says she forgives everyone, Mikko included, and will marry him. On the wedding day she comes in black, tells the gathering what she did, and says she will take the punishment. After she leaves her family and Johannes, the police take her away.

Cast & crew

More about Anna-Liisa

Teuvo Puro and Jussi Snellman directed. Snellman wrote the script from Minna Canth's play. Kurt Jäger and Aarne Tenhovaara photographed it. The premiere was 20 March 1922.

Themes

  • A wedding and a hidden child
  • A threat from the old hired man
  • A walk into the lake
  • A confession in black
  • Anna-Liisa
  • Johannes
  • Mikko
  • Husso
  • Kortesuo
  • infanticide
  • wedding
  • Minna Canth

Background

A 1922 Finnish silent of Minna Canth's play, set in the countryside at the end of the nineteenth century.

Making

Puro and Snellman filmed Canth's play at Suomi-Filmi, with Lindelöf as Anna-Liisa.

Look

Kurt Jäger and Aarne Tenhovaara photographed the farm, the lake, and the wedding gathering.

Preservation

The film survives on the Internet Archive.

Notes

  • Helmi Lindelöf plays Anna-Liisa. Hemmo Kallio plays her father. Emil Autere is in the cast.
  • Mimmi Lähteenoja is credited on Wikidata. English Wikipedia also lists Meri Roini as the mother and Greta Waahtera as the sister Pirkko.
  • The catalog summary says the child was killed three years before the wedding. The English plot summary says four years.
  • A full copy runs 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Scenes

  • Husso tells the parents about the child.
  • Johannes pulls Anna-Liisa out of the water.
  • She confesses to the wedding guests in a black dress, and the police lead her away.

Influenced by

  • Minna Canth's play Anna-Liisa

Also available

  • Internet Archive (silent-anna-liisa)