The Unknown Soldier (1955 film)

The Unknown Soldier
DVD cover
Directed byEdvin Laine
Written byJuha Nevalainen
Väinö Linna
Based onThe Unknown Soldier by Väinö Linna
Produced byT. J. Särkkä
StarringKosti Klemelä
Heikki Savolainen
Reino Tolvanen
Distributed bySuomen Filmiteollisuus
Release date
  • December 23, 1955 (1955-12-23)
[1]
Running time
177 minutes[1]
CountryFinland
LanguageFinnish
BudgetFIM 46 million[1]
Box officeFIM 200 million[1]

The Unknown Soldier (Finnish: Tuntematon sotilas, Swedish: Okänd soldat) is a Finnish war film directed by Edvin Laine that premiered in December 1955. It is based on The Unknown Soldier, a novel by Väinö Linna. The story is about the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union as told from the viewpoint of ordinary Finnish soldiers.

The film was and remains the most successful movie ever in Finland; about 2.8 million people, or more than half the Finnish population, saw it in theaters.[1][2] Its portrayal of Linna's characters is widely accepted as canonical. The film was voted the best Finnish movie by 1,213 respondents in an Internet poll by Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat in 2007.[3][4]

The novel would be filmed again in 1985 by Rauni Mollberg and again in 2017 by Aku Louhimies.

  1. ^ a b c d e "Tuntematon sotilas". Elonet (in Finnish). Kansallinen audiovisuaalinen instituutti. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  2. ^ "Suomen Elokuva-arkisto: Katsotuimmat kotimaiset elokuvat kautta aikojen" (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 31 December 2008. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  3. ^ Jyrki Räikkä Kirjoittaja on kulttuuritoimittaja. (28 May 2007). "Tuntematon sotilas on lukijoiden mielestä yhä paras – HS.fi – Kulttuuri" (in Finnish). HS.fi. Archived from the original on 31 May 2007. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
  4. ^ "Mikä on Suomen paras elokuva?". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 14 May 2007. Archived from the original on 21 June 2007.