In the 1960s, some idiots bought this Finnish-Soviet production and brought it to the screen. The problem is that the plot involving a Finnish folk tale was confusing to Western audiences, so the film was chopped to pieces--and almost 30% of the original film was thrown on the cutting room floor. As a result, it's very dull and confusing--and not worth your time. There is LOTS of narration to fill in the gaps but the film never is interesting or coherent. HOWEVER, I am not maligning the original film--just this terrible dubbed mess seen in the States.
While bastardizing a movie like this seems odd today, American-International did this a lot--buying up Russian and Japanese films and creatively editing them into American films. Sometimes they inserted down-on-their-luck actors into the films (such as Basil Rathbone) and I sure would rather see the original movie--which MIGHT actually be pretty good. But, in the 60s, they rarely trusted foreign subtitled films--and sloppily dubbed them. Sad...and stupid.
While bastardizing a movie like this seems odd today, American-International did this a lot--buying up Russian and Japanese films and creatively editing them into American films. Sometimes they inserted down-on-their-luck actors into the films (such as Basil Rathbone) and I sure would rather see the original movie--which MIGHT actually be pretty good. But, in the 60s, they rarely trusted foreign subtitled films--and sloppily dubbed them. Sad...and stupid.