Sampo (Film 1958 - ENG SUB)

Sampo (Russian: Сампо) is a 1959 Soviet–Finnish fantasy film directed by Aleksandr Ptushko. Audio in Finnish with English subtitles (Click on CC).

The film is based loosely on the events depicted in the Finnish national epic Kalevala. The people of Kalevala are a peaceful hard working people, they have everything they need and want, bar the mystical Sampo, a magical mill which will make grain, salt and gold and give prosperity to whoever possesses it. The only person in Kalevala able to make a Sampo is the smith Ilmarinen, however he cannot make it until his sister Annikki has fallen in love. Annikki eventually falls in love with the young hard working Lemminkäinen. All is not perfect, however. There is a dark dismal land called Pohjola ruled over by a wicked witch called Louhi, and she wishes for a Sampo, but her wizards are unable to forge one.

Each scene was shot a total of four times (using two cameras), as the film was produced in both Russian and Finnish (with dialogue dubbed afterwards) and in both standard and anamorphic widescreen aspect ratios. The film used the Sovcolor color film process. Sampo was the first Finnish film to feature surround sound, with four channels.

In the United States, it was released in an edited version, The Day the Earth Froze, by American International Pictures as a double feature with Conquered City. This version was later featured in a 1993 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. The US version received 24 minutes of cuts, decreasing the 91 minute runtime to 67 minutes; its credits were heavily altered: the original credits were replaced with English language titles.

Cast & Characters:
Andris Ošiņš as Lemminkäinen
Eve Kivi as Annikki
Anna Orochko as Louhi
Ivan Voronov as Ilmarinen
Urho Somersalmi as Väinämöinen
Ada Vojtsik as Mother of Lemminkäinen
Georgi Millyar as Sorcerer
Mikhail Troyanovsky as Soothsayer