A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Featuring:
Pentti Siimes, Heidi Krohn, Elina Salo
Written by:
Pentti Unho
Directed by:
Aarne Tarkas
Release Date:
August 9, 1957
Original Title:
Herra sotaministeri
Genres:
Comedy
Production Companies:
Suomen Filmiteollisuus
Production Countries:
Finland
Ratings / Certifications:
FI: S
Runtime: 90
Kalle, a shy and absent-minded civil servant at the comparison agency, unwittingly becomes Minister of War. He receives help in his new role from Maria, the daughter of Finance Minister Karpio. Problems in the performance of his duties lead Kalle to a court martial, and he resigns from his ministerial post to start a new life with his neighbor Leena.
Kalle Järvinen is a clerk of a small office who's a big fan of Napoleon.Suddenly he's the Minister of War.Elina Karpio, the State Minister's daughter, becomes his secretary, teaching him everything he needs to know, like about girls.The little man with moustache would rather be anywhere else, at first, but then the power gets to his head.He starts playing the battle of Waterloo with tin soldiers and changes his hairstyle to look more like Napoleon's.He also starts maneuvers with men.But then he becomes scared and runs off.He finds him self in military court.Herra Sotaministeri (1957) is a satire directed by Aarne Tarkas.Pentti Siimes, who turned 80 this year, makes the character of Kalle Järvinen most tragicomic.He's a little man, who hasn't had any experience with women earlier.He has just lived his life with Napoleon fantasies.Heidi Krohn, who turned 75 this year, is fantastic as Elina Karpio.Elina Salo is wonderful as Leena Autio.Tarmo Manni is quite funny as the military type, Colonel von und zu Eisenbahn.Hillevi Lagerstam gives a terrific performance as War Minister's Maid.Arvo Lehesmaa is great as State Minister Unto Karpio.Uljas Kandolin plays Porter at the Ministry of War.Juhani Kumpulainen is Aapeli Kokko.Kaarlo Halttunen plays Anselmi Järvinen and Tyyne Haarla Mrs. Järvinen.Heimo Lepistö is Pentti Terva.Leo Riuttu portrays Prosecutor.Mai-Brit Heljo is Woman at the party.Helge Herala is American ambassador.Pentti Irjala plays Abel Kanerva.Eino Kaipainen is Judge.Arvo Kuusla plays Japanese ambassador.Irja Kuusla is Irja Jauro and Matti Kuusla is Soldier.Leo Lastumäki is seen as Officer.Åke Lindman, who passed away this year, plays German ambassador.Veikko Linna plays Minister.Mikko Niskanen is Messenger.Matti Oravisto is Bodyguard.Pertti Palo portrays Avustaja.Pentti Viljanen plays Esko Leskelä and Kaarlo Wilska Host.This movie does a great job laughing at all those politicians.It is most hilarious in many parts.It's awfully funny when Kalle's parents arrive, and his mother brings him something to eat.And when he meets all those foreign ambassadors saying the first things of their language that comes to mind.And when Kalle supports every proposition those politicians have, so they raise their hands to every proposition of his.This movie reminds me of some Charles Chaplin movies from time to time.At some points our hero is like The Great Dictator when running his army.He also makes a speech in the end, at the courthouse.And then he walks off with a girl by his side, like Chaplin often did in his silent films.The movie's ending was supposed to be different.There would have been the great Masa Niemi becoming the new Minister of War.I would have liked to see that.Nevertheless, this is a very fine satire and Pentti Siimes is excellent.
Assistant Camera:
Mauno Kuusla
Pertti Seppälä
Director:
Aarne Tarkas
Director of Photography:
Pentti Unho
Editor:
Armas Vallasvuo
Grip:
Heimo Karppinen
Timo Tennosmaa
Hairstylist:
Anna-Liisa Taivainen
Location Manager:
Arvo Kuusla
Makeup Artist:
Olavi Suominen
Original Music Composer:
Harry Bergström
Producer:
T.J. Särkkä
Production Design:
Aarre Koivisto
Script Supervisor:
Maila Tuomi
Sound:
Taisto Lindegren
Sound Assistant:
Pentti Venovirta
Writer:
Aarne Tarkas
Pentti Unho
Most data and links to images for the Movies section come from TheMovieDB (TMDB).
Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).
At least one plug-in comes from IMDb.
Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)
While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:
Regarding profile removals and data corrections:
Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).
Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.
Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.