The White Reindeer (1952)
(Valkoinen peura)
Country: FIN
Technical: bw/1.37:1 71m
Director: Erik Blomberg
Cast: Mirjami Kuosmanen, Kalervo Nissilä
Synopsis:
In the frozen wastes of Lapland, a herdsman chooses a spirited wench, Pirita, as his bride, but she tires of waiting months for his return from transhumance. Having had a spell cast over her by a shaman, she exchanges places with their surrogate child, a white deer foal, making her irresistible, but also fatal, to any man.
Review:
This primitive Finnish feature (all the sound is post synched) features impressive snowscape cinematography and close-up work, but is tediously repetitive in its particulars. The logic behind the shapeshifting is never really explained, unless it is that Pirita is also a witch, and possessed of more power than even she knows. The music is good, bringing out the folkloric origins, and the reindeer well trained.
(Valkoinen peura)
Country: FIN
Technical: bw/1.37:1 71m
Director: Erik Blomberg
Cast: Mirjami Kuosmanen, Kalervo Nissilä
Synopsis:
In the frozen wastes of Lapland, a herdsman chooses a spirited wench, Pirita, as his bride, but she tires of waiting months for his return from transhumance. Having had a spell cast over her by a shaman, she exchanges places with their surrogate child, a white deer foal, making her irresistible, but also fatal, to any man.
Review:
This primitive Finnish feature (all the sound is post synched) features impressive snowscape cinematography and close-up work, but is tediously repetitive in its particulars. The logic behind the shapeshifting is never really explained, unless it is that Pirita is also a witch, and possessed of more power than even she knows. The music is good, bringing out the folkloric origins, and the reindeer well trained.
(Valkoinen peura)
Country: FIN
Technical: bw/1.37:1 71m
Director: Erik Blomberg
Cast: Mirjami Kuosmanen, Kalervo Nissilä
Synopsis:
In the frozen wastes of Lapland, a herdsman chooses a spirited wench, Pirita, as his bride, but she tires of waiting months for his return from transhumance. Having had a spell cast over her by a shaman, she exchanges places with their surrogate child, a white deer foal, making her irresistible, but also fatal, to any man.
Review:
This primitive Finnish feature (all the sound is post synched) features impressive snowscape cinematography and close-up work, but is tediously repetitive in its particulars. The logic behind the shapeshifting is never really explained, unless it is that Pirita is also a witch, and possessed of more power than even she knows. The music is good, bringing out the folkloric origins, and the reindeer well trained.