Stolen Death - 1938 - 7/10
AKA - Varastettu Kuolema
Finland, circa 1904, tries to break free of Czarist rule.
Revolutionaries, printing subversive flyers and broadsheets, progress to seeking weapons.
The secret police hunt them, an arms dealer blackmails them, and traps lay everywhere.
One of the last Expressionist films, the narrative moves too quickly for its own good.
Indeed, twenty minutes in, I paused this, quite confused, to research.
After the initial release, 15 minutes were cut (though preserved), reason for the narrative jumps.
Film scholars theorize the girl is actually a prostitute, sleeping with Russian soldiers for guns.
The arms dealer / blackmailer is her pimp.
And he doesn't count on her falling in love with one of the revolutionaries.
Camera work is memorable throughout, though the print is battered.
Finland actually has the complete cut, so a restored version is possible.
The director only made five films, before dying in World War II, age 29.
