[REL] Tirlittan (1958)

[Moonee]

Other than the interesting scenes, this movie was honestly quite boring.. I just couldn't get into the story

Idk, maybe it's just me

The narration also didn't help, hated the narration

[deadman]

Other than the interesting scenes, this movie was honestly quite boring.. I just couldn't get into the story

Idk, maybe it's just me

The narration also didn't help, hated the narration

The movie was criticized at the time of its release for, among other things, seeming to be geared toward neither kids nor adults and not being faithful enough to the source material - a beloved 1953 children's book by Finnish author Oiva Paloheimo. He wasn't particularly satisfied with the result himself. There was mention made of the image quality being mediocre too - I'm guessing that was a reference to the grainy film they used. Other than that, the picture seems nice and sharp to me. And Tarja Airaksinen is pleasing to the eyes ... both in and out of her pajamas.

I haven't read the book myself. I've looked for an English translated version but can't seem to find one anywhere. So how different the movie is from the original work, I can't say. The narration is annoying. I agree with you there. Although when you can't introduce book details through action, dialogue, or flashbacks, voiceover is about the only way left. They made a choice to keep everything in the present, no jumping back into the girl's memory. Probably not the way they'd do it today.

I'm a little surprised the book seems to exist only in the original Finnish, and hasn't been translated into other languages commonly spoken in Europe to make the story available to a wider audience of youngsters. I assume this was by the author's choice. If anyone here can locate an ebook, or even a traditional physical book being sold somewhere, I'd be interested.

[Night457]

Finnish language epub (ebook): [Code] The "slow download" is fast, but for the impatient: [Code] I do not have ebook readers and did not want to download the software.
This site worked for this ebook in Firefox, after I downloaded the epub to my computer: [Code] Of course there are other browser epub readers.

The book has beautiful black ink line drawings. It made me feel nostalgic.

[deadman]

The book has beautiful black ink line drawings. It made me feel nostalgic.

Thanks!!!

I use SumatraPDF as my primary ebook reader. I know what you mean with those drawings. Most of them found their way into the movie in some form so they at least followed the outline of the story, even if the tone might be different. When I have some time maybe I'll attempt a translation into English. Use multiple AI and non-AI translators, and correct any awkward phrasing manually. I have plans this weekend so it won't be right away.

There's a 1969 made-for-TV adaptation too, Tirlittan (1969). Oddly this is the only attempt at a remake despite the book being a staple of Finnish youth literature and even having a literary prize named after it. I can't find a full version. Just a page with a few posted clips:

[Code]
The 1958 version appears closer to the book than this one does. Tirlittan doesn't even have her signature pajamas with her name on them (inside out). It appears to be quite low budget filmed entirely in studio. Maybe wardrobe couldn't afford the custom PJs. No remake since 1969. Too bad they didn't attempt one, say in the 1980's, when the swimming scenes still would've been uncontroversial. A 2025 version would undoubtedly be filmed ... differently.

[Unigami]

Am I reading this wrong? o_o

Tirlittan – Orphan Girl in the Wonderland of People. A Musical Play.

The date is shown as 2026. (May-Aug.) hmmmm

[deadman]

Am I reading this wrong? o_o

Tirlittan – Orphan Girl in the Wonderland of People. A Musical Play.

The date is shown as 2026. (May-Aug.) hmmmm

No, you're not reading it wrong. Students from the private Oulu Steiner Waldorf School (grades 1-12) are putting on a live stage production of Tirlittan next spring and summer. They don't seem to have finalized the dates and times of shows yet.

Maybe they'll post a video of one of those shows on YouTube. Especially if they're speaking English, or the video is subtitled, it might be interesting.

[Moonee]

Other than the interesting scenes, this movie was honestly quite boring.. I just couldn't get into the story

Idk, maybe it's just me

The narration also didn't help, hated the narration

The movie was criticized at the time of its release for, among other things, seeming to be geared toward neither kids nor adults and not being faithful enough to the source material - a beloved 1953 children's book by Finnish author Oiva Paloheimo. He wasn't particularly satisfied with the result himself. There was mention made of the image quality being mediocre too - I'm guessing that was a reference to the grainy film they used. Other than that, the picture seems nice and sharp to me. And Tarja Airaksinen is pleasing to the eyes ... both in and out of her pajamas.

Don't get me wrong, the girl is very cute and I did love her clothes, the only thing I had a problem with was the story (didn't enjoy it)

Also, there was a scene in the movie that mentions the girl having blonde hair

I was like... She doesn't have blonde hair ??? It's white

The power of black and white films