The first movie that was filmed here was Olli’s schooling* (Teuvo Puro, 1920). The next one was made in 1923, when the manor was set as ”Rautakylä manor” in The Old Baron of Rautakylä (Carl Fager, 1923). Suomi-Filmi studio made many movies on Herttoniemi manor and the last one was made in 1930.
Scene from the Old Baron of Rautakylä (1923). SOV.
SF, Suomi-Filmi’s rival, took over the manor as one of the studios favourite settings in the 1930’s. The manor is seen in at least 14 movies made until 1962. The studio SF cooperated fruitfully with the owner, the society Svenska Odlingens Vänner, and the curator of the museum at this time, PhD Paul Nyberg.
Many famous SF-movies are set to the park, outside the main building or next to the farmstead Knusbacka. One of the most famous films were Herttoniemi is ”the manor” is probably The Vagabond’s valse (Toivo Särkkä, 1941) with Ansa Ikonen and Tauno Palo. But the most famous movie set here is probably Katarina and the count of Munkkiniemi (Ossi Elstelä, 1943) with Regina Linnanheimo and Leif Wager. Wager’s caracter count Mauritz sings a legendary song in a famous seen beside the pond in the English par (Romance by Reino Hirviseppä and Nils-Eric Fougstedt). The last famous movie filmed here was The Border 1918 (Lauri Törhönen, 2007) that was shot inside the main building.
It is not possible to film inside the main buildning today do to the exhibition and we also lack electricity in some of the rooms. But if you are interested in filming in the park, please contact us! In 2020 we are developing a special tour in the area that focus on the manor in the movies. But more information will follow later on!
Meanwhile you can read about Herttoniemi in the movies Laine et al (2019) Unelmatehdas Liisankadulla. Suomen Filmiteollisuus OY:n tarina (SKS: Helsinki) or our book Backman (2016) Hertonäs Manor (SOV: Helsinki).
*The English titles of the movies mentioned in the text are not official, but invented/translated freely by me.