Salaviinanpolttajat (lost Finnish film and screenplay; 1907)

Directors Louis Sparre (left) and Teuvo Puro (right).

Status: Lost

Salaviinanpolttajat (aka The Moonshiners) is a 20-minute 1907 Finnish comedy film directed by Louis Sparre and Teuvo Puro. The film is about two men who make moonshine in the woods. A customer comes to them, and while sampling the moonshine, the three start a game of cards, which eventually leads to a fight. The police then arrive and arrest the moonshiners while the customer gets off scot-free.

The film's screenplay was originally a submission to a 1907 screenplay writing contest commissioned by the "Father of Finnish Cinema", Karl Emil Stahlberg. The submitted screenplay, which had been attributed to the pseudonym "J. V-s", whose identity is speculated to be either Stahlberg himself or a local sheriff, took first place in the contest. Soon afterwards, the screenplay was adapted.

No known copies of Salaviinanpolttajat have been preserved, rendering it a lost film. The original screenplay submitted for the contest has also seemingly vanished.

External Links

• Wikipedia article on Salaviinanpolttajat. Retrieved 26 Mar '16.
• IMDb page on Salaviinanpolttajat. Retrieved 26 Mar '16.