Village Shoemakers, The (1923)

[bunniefuu]

The Heath Cobblers
Film comedy in 5 acts.

In Topias's vicinity lived corporal,
a bachelor who liked children.
The children of the village, especially
cobbler's Esko and sailor Niko's
little Jaana, often played.

Corporal hoped that Esko and Jaana
would go together all their lives.
That is why he stated in his last will,
that the first child to marry
inherits 500 riksdaler from him.

In the widely pine heath
stood cobbler Topias's cabin.

Years had passed. Esko has grown
into stubborn, briste haired gigant,
who worked at home with his shoe last.

After her mother had died and
her father still at sea Jaana
had been taken as foster daughter
at the home of cobbler Topias.

Late corporal's wish had not come true
and so cobbler's beefy wife, Martta,
had decided to get Esko married
before Jaana.

"Don yourself, you oaf, for the
wedding trip. I'll go see the cantor."

Heath cobbler Topias himself.

Esko remembers his visit to Karri,
where he met Kreeta,
who is the reason for Martta
sending him to wedding trip now.

The great rascal, Mikko Vilkastus,
who jokingly suggested,
that Kreeta would marry Esko.

"Look, Kreeta, not just any cobbler
can make a shoe like this."

"Listen, Esko, she is already
crazy about you."

Jaana's groom, smith Kristo.

Sepeteus, the respected
cantor of the parish.

"... and since Esko is not yet of age,
we would ask cantor to come and
write him a permission for wedding."

"Gosh. I must hurry,
for I am about to take a step,
that is nothing to laugh about."

"So he'll marry before us,
and we'll lose 500 riksdaler."

"Devil will take you
for those five hundred."

"What is all the ruckus down there?"

"What will become of this.
Esko has always been a blockhead.
I remember how even as child he..."

"Listen Esko, if you sit in
an ant's nest for seven days,
you'll become strong as an ox."

"What if we gave a horse
for Esko and Mikko?
Walking such a trip is embarrassing
for a master's son."

"Embarrassing! It would be good if
that's the biggest embarrassment
he faces. He is of dumb breed, you see."

"But this is no time to be modest,
because it is a matter
of 500 riksdaler."

"I'm taking an important step, dad."

"Listen, I'll tell you a story
from the Bible:"

"There was a wise man called Topias,
and he had a son,
who was about to go get married.."

"Strange congruence.
And they were both cobblers too?"

"So they walked slowly,
but when they finally reached
a river, cried Topias's son
with high voice, for a big fish..."

"Mom, did you put any
herrings in the bag?"

"You fools, like father like son! You
will get herrings with your bread."

"When Heath Cobbler's Esko marries,
then the whole world will topple over."

"I have now - God bless us young
- also gone a little crazy, me too!"

"I will the text for permission,
your father will sign it,
and then it will be certified."

"He will sign it and I will too."

"But I'm the source and the beginning
of this, and that is
why there must be my name too."

"Is it all based on your son and
Mikko Vilkastus's visit to Karri?"

"Not just. It was later confirmed at
Halfway Tavern between me and Karri."

Householder of Karri

"So you send your son to get married,
but remember this: it is better
to stand under leaky gutter
than live with a mean wife."

"You are not hurrying your son
to marriage just because of
the late corporal's will?"

"This is Martta's business,
I have no claim in the matter."

"Two gallant boys! Think,
if you would manage to capture
that big thief. Award is 700 riksdaler."

"I would tie him myself!
But you haven't seen me in taverns
or running around throbbing at lofts.
Just look at these cheeks!"

"My sign needs to be there too."

"My sign must be in the letter!"

"You are not being wise, are you?
You owl! See, that I don't give
you pigs for wedding! Aye!"

"Well, I'm not the one who has
a score to settle and walking around
like an ox with boards for eyes!"

"Please forgive me, cantor, don't
settle a score and don't walk
around like a boar-headed ox!"

Iivari, Esko's brother, who rather
wanders around in village
than sits by the cobbler's table.

"Martta, Martta,
the cantor is in our house!"

"Go now with my blessings!"

"We'll go like the devil was after us."

"Greetings!"

Iivari is sent to town
for wedding shoppings.

Esko wanted to stop by the first tavern.

Sakeri, Iivari's uncle,
a fired policeman.

Sakeri lures Iivari to a pub.

"I feel very touched at the moment,
and my heart is like a ball
of pitch on fire."

"Kreeta! My head is spinning for the
thoughts that soon I am one with
you, and I become you and you
become me, and they can call us
Esko-Kreeta or Kreeta-Esko."

At Karri.

"Rejoice wedding room!"

"We are celebrating the wedding
of my foster daughter Kreeta
and clog maker Jaakko."

"Rejoice wedding room!"

"She is beautiful like a rose in bloom,
but I am silent as a perch on a stone."

"When we were approaching
the wedding house, we heard
violin all the way to the drying barn."

"Teemu is one of the best
fiddlers you'll ever meet."

"What about Jooseppi Oinasm?ki
in our village! His playing
goes to heart and kidneys,
and one thinks he is in heaven."

"On your wedding day I bestow you
the whole Kontinkorpi area."

"And I hope that in Kontinkorpi.."

"May the time always pass with fortune's
blessings there, until eventually you lay
your head in the grave's rest, and then
will the yearning tear moisten
your grave. I drink to your memory."

"Good Lord, my head is spinning
when I think how all this would
have been mine without betrayal!"

"Jooseppi Oinasm?ki - the joy of heaven!
Everyone is talking about music even
though they understand it less than
a piglet understands about silver spoon."

"Jaakko, you should have
become a leather cobbler."

"Leather cobbler!
What is a leather cobbler?
Wretched pitch nose!"

"That's right, sir ringmaster!"

"I have heard very bad things
about your handy work."

"That is a lie and a slander! An angel
from heaven can't make a better
boot than I. Mikko can prove that."

"Thank you very much! This is
a nice wedding, even though.."

"- but we will forgive him."

"You scoundrel, you broken shoe!
Just make sure you won't find yourself
under the table listening to the bees."

"I am Teemu!"

"Yes, sir ringmaster."

Teemu's father, who had forbidden
his son to play at the wedding."

"I'll teach him to trip."

"Since the player was taken from us,
let's have ouselves
a happy hay harvest."

"A-ha the cobbler! One thousand
eight hundred, cobbler burnt
the leather like thundered!"

"You stole Kreeta from me,
you bull calf!"

"Bull calf, bull calf!"

"Cobbler! Make me a pair of clogs!"

"Lord in heaven protect me! This day is
enough to drive a man crazy! - Jaakko!"

"Deceiving me you have been
all along and lured away
my bride! Even you, Karri -"

"It was all a joke and so I thought
your father also understood that."

"Wife, you have betrayed me. You have
turned my flowering field into land of
thistle, my wheat porridge to grainy,
and now I am ashamed in front of
the whole world because of you."

"Come along, Mikko! I'm leaving now!"

Since there was still travel money left,
Mikko took Esko from village to
village to visit his relatives.

Iivari had it bad too. He had lost
all the income from the cart load.

"Can you get back the money we romped?"

"Impossible! But there is another way.
Hear me! On the way home,
we were robbed by bandits-"

"I doubt they will believe this story."

Along the dusty road paced sailor Niko,
Jaana's father, returning
from his long journeys.

"What is this? I am lay judge-"

"You big scoundrel!
Don't you recognize me?"

"Niko! - Your daughter will be
so happy to see you."

"Do you have relatives there too?"

In cobbler's house the welcome feast
for young couple was being prepared.

"I'll go borrow flour
for the welcoming feast."

"I wish my father was here,
so we wouldn't be feeling
this burning agony."

Halfway Tavern.

"Well if it isn't Sakeri,
cobbler-Martta's brother."

"Have you heard that they have seen
that big thief around - spike beard
and a big spot next to his nose
- 700 riksdaler."

"- so is that big thief ready
and I get a free ride home."

"Son, now we shall go home."

"Never, uncle Sakeri, never home again.
Now we go hang ourselves!"

"Now we'll both go and
hang ourselves beautifully!"

"700 riksdaler!"

"Law and order are strict.
Show me your passport."

"Tavern keeper, tavern keeper!!
For God's sake bring
rope and string here!"

"A moment ago poor as a rat,
now a seven hundred riksdalers man!"

"Along that narrow road
comes Esko with his young bride."

"Tailor Antres, here you must wait
for the wedding party,
and when they arrive,
you will play them honorary fanfare."

"Now the question is,
how dare we go home."

"One thing I'd like to tell you
as a secret -"

"- and I have a feeling this is going
to be another baton dance."

"I'll pick a fight, but first I'll get you
tight as a tick, so that they'll
see at your home, that it wasn't
just me alone who drank the money."

"What do you mean?
You know that nothing strong
has ever touched my lips."

"In that case our ways part!"

"Now you have antidote in your head
and everything will be smooth as
oil in Lebanon when you get home."

"Well, well, listen to the sound
of bells now!"

"Bells! Does my voice sound
like a cow bell, you stupid ass!"

"No bride at all."

"But maybe I'll die now!"

"I get wings on my back and long tail
on my ass and I will rise to heights."

"Earth and sky go round and round
and you, tailor Antres, roll in my eyes
like a monkey in the market."

"I can't really hear you up here!"

"Yes, this is death;
and I'll get the devil's courage."

"Man, you have been drinking?"

"Could I be drunk? Such wonderful,
such heavenly, such bravery."

"Jesus Christ, Antres, shall we
run our heads against a pine?"

"Is a tailor a better man
than a cobbler?"

"How can you go in front
of people with hair like that?"

"The hair is fine! Feel that tuft!"

"Feel for the third time!"

"g*dd*mn! The whole world
seems bewitched against me."

"And there is some old quarrel
between us too, Antres."

"Good day. Come and see
the fruits of hate and sin!"

"The tailor is alive! Remarkable man!
I will make you boots
for free until you die."

"The big thief!"

"My bride was deviously given to other
and I got to turn back as a bachelor."

"You watch your mouth, you buzzard!"

"Woman regime is a sad sign;
it bodes the fall of provinces."

"Don't get drunk today, if you don't
want to be locked in the pigpen."

"Pigpen? My little Martta, don't talk
so hoggish at this festive time!"

"Listen cantor! There comes Esko
with his young bride.
And heath roars as in wolf hunt
from the villagers' greetings."

"I drank everything!
But here is 700 riksdaler."

"Jaana, my daughter!"

"He is in ropes,
because he is the big thief."

"What are you bragging, Topias!
The thief was captured
at the Vanaja church yesterday,
I saw it myself."

"Here, Niko, is blacksmith Kristo,
fine and swift man, in love
with your daughter; let him have her."

"So we have lost 500 riksdaler."

"You, Esko, are sued by Karri."

"What do I hear? Who are you man?"

"What is this crow's foot?"

"Yes that is my sign."

"Listen, what my daughter whispered:
let us split the inheritance in two."

"You dear child! Your goodness
touches me more than this money."

"I'm going off to sea!"

"Iivari can go to sea. I will stay here
and make shoes with father and
shall never, never marry. What good
is a wife? I know their kind now.
Treacherous they are."

"I built a wedding desk in our room,
but it can be Kristo and
Jaana's engagement table now."

"I will never marry!!"

Years later --