3X Teuvo Tulio: Sensuela + Cross Of Love + Restless Blood - Standard Edition Deaf Crocodile - Blu-ray

A trio of surreal melodramas from Finnish director Teuvo Tulio including CROSS OF LOVE, RESTLESS BLOOD and the notorious SENSUELA

A mad, dreamlike combination of surrealist imagery and intense emotion, the films of Finnish director Teuvo Tulio (1912–2000) are melodramas that abandon naturalism and conventional storytelling, operating in the same hallucinatory cinematic space as the bold melodramas of Douglas Sirk and R.W. Fassbinder.

CROSS OF LOVE (1946)

Grizzled lighthouse keeper Oscar Tengström loses his daughter Riitta (Tulio’s frequent collaborator Regina Linnanheimo) to the temptations of city life and the influence of the charming Mauri (Ville Salminen). During this turbulent time, she meets Henrik (Rauli Tuomi), a sensitive young painter who asks her to pose for an unusual artistic project that soon becomes the center of scandal and controversy.

RESTLESS BLOOD (1946)

Sylvi (Regina Linnanheimo) appears to have an ideal marriage to her husband Valter (Eino Katajavuori), a respected doctor, despite his casual flirtations with her younger sister. Their life changes dramatically after a tragic accident involving their young son. Driven to despair, Sylvi attempts to take her own life but survives, losing her sight in the process. Linnanheimo delivers a powerful performance that gives the film a strong expressionist and noir-influenced atmosphere.

SENSUELA (1973)

Tulio’s final film opens with Sámi reindeer herder’s daughter Laila (Marianne Mardi) rescuing a wounded German WWII pilot named Hans (Mauritz Åkerman). Hans soon convinces her to leave for Helsinki, where she becomes immersed in a glamorous urban world filled with fashion, photography, and high-society nightlife. The film blends elements of melodrama with striking Technicolor visuals and pop-art-inspired style.

Bonus Materials

• All three films newly restored by KAVI – the National Audiovisual Institute of Finland
• First-ever worldwide Blu-ray release

Additional bonus features include:

• Surviving fragments from Tulio’s early films
 – Struggle for the House of Heikkila (1936, 9 min clip)
 – Fall Asleep When Young (1937, 22 min)
• Short documentary A French Discovery – Nuorena Nukkunut (2015, 7 min, dir. Jani Jäderholm) about the preservation of Fall Asleep When Young
• Two Finnish educational films from the 1940s:
 – I Would Like to Be a Queen (1947, 13 min)
 – Shelters for Newborns (1946, 9 min)
• Rare trailer for the Swedish-language version of Cross of Love (1946)

Additional features:

• New audio commentaries by Dr. Eloise Ross, Rolf Giesen, and Heidi Honeycutt
• New visual essays by Reinert Kiil and Ryan Verrill & Dr. Will Dodson (Someone’s Favorite Productions)
• Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie (Fidelity In Motion)