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The Witch (1952 film)

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Wikipedia article




'The Witch' is a 1952 Finnish horror film directed by Roland af Hllstrom and produced by Mauno Mkel. The film is based on Mika Waltari's 1947 play of the same name.

Premise



The film begins with swamp digging archaeologists who find a naked girl buried in the mud hundreds of years ago as a witch. The resurrection of the girl named Birgit evokes horror, unrest, and passions on the local manor milieu; with her enchantment, the girl gets the local men in her traps and makes them a threat to each other.

Cast



Controversy



The film is considered to be one of the first Finnish horror movies, along with 'Old Baron of Rautakyl' (1923), 'Curses of the Witch' (1927), 'Linnaisten vihre kamari' (1945) and 'The White Reindeer' (1952). The nudity scenes provoked a lot of controversy at the time, and helped the film to get sold to the United States and West Germany. In Finland, 14 meters of the film was censored, including the line: "I want to hold a young warm body in my arms in the meadow, among flowers naked, in the warmth of fire, in the warmth of blood".

Reception



'The Witch' won two Jussi Awards, one for Esko Tyri for best cinematography and another for Lauri Elo for best production design. Young actress Mirja Mane was both praised and criticized for her performance as the witch. The reception from female critics was mostly negative, while some of the male critics noted that Mane's performance reflected an obvious talent.

References



Category:Films based on works by Mika Waltari

Category:Finnish horror films

Category:1952 films

Category:Films about witchcraft

Category:1952 horror films

Category:Finnish black-and-white films

Category:1950s Finnish-language films


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