Directing
Matti Kassila was born on January 12, 1924 in Keuruu, Finland as Matti Uolevi Kassila. He was a director and writer, known for Gas, Inspector Palmu! (1961), The Stars Will Tell, Inspector Palmu (1962) and The Harvest Month (1956).
The boyish, temperamental chemistry student Elsa Kassel disapproves of her mother and sisters running after men, but when she hears that she's referred to as "ugly Elsa", she takes on a transformation. The new, charming Elsa tests her attractiveness on men and causes confusion all the way to her mother's new groom, Professor Harjula.
Eager young radio reporter Teräsvuori stages a one-man burglary into the Helsinki Art Museum, recorded on tape for a later broadcast by his friend Laakso. Things go awry when a gang of real criminals overhear their plans and book their heist to coincide. Teräsvuori gets caught but escapes from police custody to start his private investigations together with female radio colleague Eila.
After a weekend of dancing and camping on a recreation island near the city, a young factory worker decides to stay and cut work for a day. Walking around the now deserted island, he meets a beautiful woman camping alone and sunbathing in the nude on the beach. A hot romance flares up between the worker and the more upper-class married lady, lasting through the light-filled nights of the whole summer week until the woman's much older husband returns to the island the next weekend.
An architect, who has recently married a new, younger wife, tries to re-connect with his ex-wife, who is being courted by another man.
The year is 1895 in a small village in Savo, where new ideas such as women's rights and folk high schools are vehemently opposed by Pastor Jussilainen, both in his home and in the parish. His wife Eveliina, the maids, and the conservative parishioners all experience his vehemence. However, the pastor meets his match when his mother-in-law arrives for a visit.
A man's body is found on Tähtitorninmäki in Helsinki. Palmu starts to investigate the case, but the scandalous newspaper story causes problems for the police.
A TV reporter is murdered when he is eavesdropping on a secret Finnish-Soviet conference. The National Broadcasting Corporation enlists the help of police lieutenant Palmu, who comes out of retirement for this case. However, some have their doubts about the loyalities of Palmu, seeing that he was spotted in a diplomatic soiree in Moscow just a few weeks before the murder.
The title of the Finnish film Elokuu translates to August. Directed by Matti Kassila, one of Finland's premiere filmmakers, Elokuu was adapted from a novel by Nobel prize winning finnish author F.E. Sillanpää. Simply put, the story concerns the decline and fall of a once-proud family, thanks to the alcoholism of its paterfamilias. Toivo Makela delivers a powerfully effective performance as the inebriated protagonist, avoiding the usual "drunken" cliches. The overlong running time, coupled with the downbeat nature of the subject, limited the film's worldwide appeal.
A psychotherapist's life is wrecked when her private life is exposed in a sensation magazine.
Documentary about Finnish film theaters - about their past, disappearance and future. And at the same time universal story how cinema is undeniably connected with life.
The everyday life of the small village is mixed when a fire breaks out the night after the party. The cooperative manager and fire manager alerts the young judge Heiki to the extinguishing work, but due to the confusion, extinguishing the fire turns out to be more complicated than expected.
Two children get involved in the adventure as the bustling caretaker Mrs. Aaltoska and crime reporter "Hawkeye" Lipponen start chasing the mysterious criminal league.
Concertmaster Orasto and his pianist wife Elna hire Maija, who has been treated harshly by life, as their domestic helper. Erkki, the composer son of a noisy family of musicians, falls in love with Maija, but difficulties pile up in the way of the young couple's happiness.
A cynical tale of two liquor smugglers, who struggle with life, love and lust. A seedy love triangle is unavoidable.
A closed room mystery begins when an infamous tycoon is found dead in his bath tub. The famous police lieutenant Palmu is summoned to investigate.
Ilona, a young teacher, arrives in a village in Tavastia. She and Aarne, the wealthy owner of the Niskavuori farm, who is frustrated with his marriage, fall in love. The relationship becomes a public secret. Aarne's wife Martta, who owns half of Niskavuori, wants to hold on to her husband until the last. For Loviisa, the matriarch of Niskavuori, the most important thing is the reputation and honor of the family.