Opettajatar seikkailee

Leena Katajamäki is young but strict history teacher to a group of girls.Then they all go and spend a day on an island.But there happens to be also a man named Pertti Rinne, a bearded artist.He spies on the pretty teacher and paints her portrait- with her completely naked on the picture.She ends up spending a night with the artist on the island.The next day she finds the painting in an art gallery of the school.She has to get it from there, so she steals it.Also three simple crooks and two simple policemen are involved in the story.Opettajatar Seikkailee (1960) is a comedy directed by Aarne Tarkas.It's produced by Toivo Särkkä and the composer of music is Jaakko Salo.The movie did good back then.Many people went to see it.Leni Katajakoski has got both the looks and the talent for the part of Leena, or "Tantta" as her students call her.Tommi Rinne is just the right guy to play Pertti the artist, with and without the beard.Pirkko Mannola is marvelous as Ritva Laakso.Leo Jokela is hilarious as Arska.And so is Risto Mäkelä as Ville.Those characters were seen for the first time in this movie.Aarne Laine is great as Eetu.Uljas Kandolin and Hannes Häyrinen make their second appearance as the funny policeman couple, Chief Constable Salomon Koukku and Constable Ripatti.Siiri Angerkoski is fantastic as Mrs. Noponen.Paavo Hukkinen is terrific as Anselmi Peltonen.And so is Pia Hattara as Matilda Peltonen.Irma Seikkula portrays Maisteri Tyynelä.Toivo Mäkelä is Maisteri Petäjä.Pentti Viljanen is Paatero.Liana Kaarina plays Schoolgirl.Laila Rihte is seen as Mari.Esko Salminen, who turned 70 a week ago, plays a boy.This movie made me laugh, and that's the most important thing when you're watching a comedy.Like when Leena has stayed in the island together with the artist, and he makes her share the tent with him by making those animal sounds to make her scared of sleeping outside.It's awfully funny when those two escape from the cops and they're invited to a society party.There they have to deal with the coffee and the cake problem, handcuffed to each other.The movie is 50 years old now.Some might call it aged, I would call it funny.

Aarne Tarkas (1923-76) was a prolific screenwriter and director, completing up to five movies per year during his halcyon days in the early 1960s. As usual, the quality of his work varies, but I have nevertheless liked several of his films that I have seen so far: at least Kovanaama (1954), Paksunahka (1958) and Hän varasti elämän (1962) come to mind. The 1960 comedy of errors Opettajatar seikkailee is also a worthy addition to Tarkas' often light but entertaining body of work.

The plot is as silly as they come: an uptight all-girl school teacher Leena Kataja (Leni Katajakoski) stumbles upon a handsome artist Pertti Rinne (Tommi Rinne) who paints her face on a nude portrait, much to her chagrin. She is intent on keeping the painting out of circulation by stealing it from an art gallery, but the aftermath turns out to be more complex than she anticipated, leading Leena to become involved in various misunderstandings featuring a gang of criminals, inept cops and false murder charges among other things.

It has been said that a comedy is only good if it makes you laugh, but luckily Opettajatar seikkailee succeeds decently by such a standard. Katajakoski and Rinne make a great leading couple, especially their antics at a tea party while being chained together belong among the best comedy scenes of Finnish cinema of the golden era. The many supporting characters are very amusing as well, such as the trio of burglars Arska, Eetu and Ville (Leo Jokela, Aarne Laine and Risto Mäkelä) and Tarkas' recurring cop characters Koukku and Ripatti (Uljas Kandolin and Hannes Häyrinen). I might also give a nod to Siiri Angerkoski and Paavo Hukkinen in smaller roles, but I guess I can't really list every funny character in a short review like this. Pirkko Mannola also appears as one of Leena's students, but doesn't get to sing anything this time – I wish she did!

Besides the characters, I also enjoyed the jazzy, occasionally almost avant-gardist tones of the score by Jaakko Salo. I feel like I am saying this about every old Finnish movie I watch, but the coastal scenery on artist Rinne's island looks very nice too. My only complaint is that the movie is perhaps just a little bit too long at 93 minutes; some trimming could have tightened the humour into a Finnish comedy classic. But even as it is now, Opettajatar seikkailee is a very entertaining little movie and has a place among the best 1960s comedies of Finland.