Sampo

Sampo is a Finnish-Soviet fantasy adventure drawn from the Kalevala, the national epic of Finland and Karelia. The sorceress Louhi, ruler of the bleak northern land of Pohjola, abducts Annikki, sister of the smith Ilmarinen, to force the making of the Sampo, a magical mill that yields salt, grain and gold. Annikki's betrothed, the young hero Lemminkäinen, sets out with Ilmarinen by boat for the north to win her back, and the pair must satisfy Louhi's demands before they can free her. When the Sampo is lost, Louhi takes the sun itself, leaving the world in cold darkness.

Aleksandr Ptushko directed, working from a screenplay by Viktor Vitkovich and Grigori Yagdfeld; Risto Orko produced, and Mosfilm and Suomi-Filmi were the production companies. The cast includes Urho Somersalmi as Väinämöinen, Anna Orochko as Louhi, Ivan Voronov as Ilmarinen, Andris Ošiņš as Lemminkäinen, Ada Vojtsik as Lemminkäinen's mother and Eve Kivi as Annikki. The film runs 90 minutes. Ptushko's later features include Scarlet Sails, The Day the Earth Froze and The Tale of Tsar Saltan.

Audience response has been modest: on IMDb the film holds 4.5/10 from around 1,700 votes, and on TMDB 4.6/10 from 29 votes.