
Heikki Savolainen
Acting
Biography
Heikki Savolainen (9 April 1922 in Pori – 22 January 1975) was a Finnish stage and screen actor renowned for the part of Urho Hietanen in Edvin Laine's 1955 The Unknown Soldier (The Unknown Soldier). He also played several comedic roles in 50's Finnish movies, as well as performing in several radio plays.
Known For

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.
The Harvest Month

It is the summer of 1941. An eastern-Finnish machine gun company receives an order to turn in their surplus equipment. The company is transferred to the front lines. The next morning the soldiers wake to the sound of guns – the war has begun.
The Unknown Soldier

Schoolboy Klaus is convicted of theft and sent to prison. At his release Klaus feels that his life has changed a lot. Despite all his hardship and difficulties he keeps up his studies under the supervision of the grim Master Kahari.
Jälkeen syntiinlankeemuksen

The brothers of Yli-Koskela farm fall for the same woman. Then Aarne believes he has killed a man. Artturi sees the case and saves the man from drowning to the rapids. He takes advantage of the situation and tells the woman, Lea, that his brother is a murderer.
Hornankoski

Lasse Pöysti plays a young reporter named Esko Pekuri who thinks he's got a front-page story. But every article he writes goes in press as minor news. He gets a fantastic idea to impersonate a gangster and write an article about prison life.
Kovanaama

St. Peter's announcement interrupts the Welcome to Morning Coffee radio program. He asks people for help because he does not know whether private detective Uljas Uriel Vaaksanpää has died or is still alive. The strange events are followed from the perspective of different characters.
Tervetuloa aamukahville eli tottako toinenkin puoli?

A story of the conflict between the old and new orders of living.
Niskavuoren naiset

1892. Vappu Biörcke and Kaarlo Härkönen get to know each other during the summer in the countryside at the birthday of Vappu Jalle-sedä. In Helsinki, the young people continue their courtship under the supervision of Vapu's aunt, Moster Mella. However, Vapu's father, business advisor Ossian Biörcke, is not as accepting when his daughter's actions begin to be revealed.
Katupeilin takana
A man dreaming of becoming a private detective gets suck into an investigation of a crime involving the theft of a secret chemical formula.
Paksunahka

Poke and Pena, two private investigators in debt, see an advertisement in the newspaper about Dr. Peltonen's disappearance and the promised reward for finding him. The boys retreat to investigate the case in a house they have rented in the countryside, which happens to be next door to the criminal gang that kidnapped the doctor. The gang's boss, 'Synkkä' (Gloomy), and his sister, 'Kaunotar' (Beauty), try to distract the boys by hiring them to guard their villa.
Pontevat pommaripojat

A wide-eyed doll salesman is mistaken for a bomb-wielding anarchist by the oppressive forces of the totalitarian state.
The Doll Merchant

A traditional misunderstanding story with an unfounded suspicion of jealousy at the beginning. Childhood friends Kati Jorma and Jalmari Karvi do not reveal their previous meetings to their suspicious spouses.
Minäkö isä!

Three sailors rescue Carmen, who has fallen into the clutches of the white slave trade, and also manage to destroy a drug gang.
Rion yö

Two Finnish PI:s are hunted by a gang specialized to counterfeit banknotes from Malaga to Finland and Mallorca and back. The counterfeit money printing plates are desperately searched by the gang and our heroes try to hide from them by travelling to Mallorca, where some of the local hoods try to kill them and retake the missing plates.
Ei ruumiita makuuhuoneeseen

Pave, Hese, Timppa, and Viiksi have ended up in Hell, where the heat makes them feel as comfortable as in a sauna. The bosses there don't like this, so they send the boys on vacation to their home country, Finland. They are given a briefcase full of money to live a life of luxury. The only condition is that they are not allowed to do honest work, and to make matters worse, they are told that alcohol will not go to their heads.
Saatanan radikaalit

An ex-finnish army officer Kari Kivi returns to Finland after 12 years of absence. He is quickly hired by a businessman named Östermalm to be his stand-in to escape the ring of spies threatening his life. Many beautiful women cross Kivi's path before the spy ring is eventually crushed.
Kovaa peliä Pohjolassa

Justiina pushes Pekka and Pätkä to take painting lessons after realizing that art can be a way to earn a living. With the help of the yard children, a painting is created that wins first prize at a contemporary art exhibition. In the meantime, the men, along with their assistant Miss Kaihokielo, have been charged with art theft. After the misunderstanding is cleared up, the Puupääs use the art prize money to convert the house's bomb shelter into a children's clubroom.
Pekka ja Pätkä mestarimaalareina

A mad writer checks into a hotel. In the window of a opposite building he sees four men and starts to write their life story. Every man is an anonymous person who have done or experienced something irreversible in his life. They end up together to plan a heist.
Silmät hämärässä

Professor Derek Wytycky and his son Hans, who are immersed in the study of Indian poetry, wake up one day to find that the mother of the family is nowhere to be seen. When their housekeeper Gloria also leaves, having had enough of the absent-minded men, father and son hire private detective Mademoiselle Catherine Anaconda to investigate Mrs. Wytycky's disappearance.
Äidittömät

Captain Kaarnoja finds himself caught up in intrigues and a dispute between the noblewoman Elisabeth and her cousin, Captain Gyllenskiöld. Kaarnoja comes into possession of a mysterious letter, which leads him and his loyal companion Sergeant Erkinpoika into battles, ambushes, and sword fights.