Sininen varjo

This was the third movie and first talkie directed by perhaps the greatest master of Finnish cinema, Valentin Vaala, and also the only one of his films that has vanished for good, not counting the remaining 15 minutes I have seen. Those minutes, set after a little while after the original beginning of the film, are very promising. Story tells about a famous burglar, "The Blue Overall" (Tugai), who tries to pull himself together after meeting a charming girl (Nuotio) by finding a decent job at a newspaper. These honorably attempts are however made difficult when he is being accused of a murder he has not done.

Simple plotline is handled with great visual imagination in the remaining bit. Especially strong is the eerie atmosphere on the murder night, (original subtitle of the film was "Murder at Midnight"), that is not far from Matti Kassila's modern crime thrillers made three decades later. Memorable is also the scene where the former lover of Tugai's chases him with a car.

Film was based on a play by Mika Waltari, who was paid with only a small portion of whiskey for giving the rights to film it (it was prohibition at the time). Film was sponsored by Fyffes-bananas, so the dialogue was included three or four discussions about these particular bananas. For example:

• Do you know, what could be better than one Fyffes-banana?

• Well, of course two Fyffes-bananas, darling.

Making a talkie for an independent corporation was quite expensive at the time in Finland, so perhaps we must excuse certain amount of stupid product placement.