1929-01-02T12:00:00Z
Jüri, a servant to a nobleman, faces punishment for pilfering food behind the baron’s back to aid his ailing father. Swearing vengeance, he flees the manor astride a stolen horse, deftly evading pursuers time and again by assuming various disguises. His romance with Madli, another servant at the manor, imbues the tale with intrigue, ultimately sealing the fate of the cunning fugitive.
“Jüri Rumm” unfolds as a satirical adventure film chronicling the exploits of a legendary Estonian thief during the latter half of the 19th century, who ascended to the status of a folk hero akin to a local Robin Hood – redistributing wealth from the affluent to the impoverished. In the early 20th century, his vibrant persona sparked a series of stage productions and literary works. Primarily drawn from Hans Varessoo’s (pseudonym) 1908 novel and the first volume (1921) of Jaan Metua’s trilogy of plays, the screenplay of the film is attributed to Mikhail Lepper. Lepper, the first Estonian to study under Georg Wilhelm Pabst and work with Fritz Lang in the early 1920s, later emigrated to Sweden and pursued a career in photojournalism.
“Jüri Rumm” was digitised in 6K and restored in 4K at the Film Archive of the National Archives of Estonia in 2023, using the original nitrate negative, three surviving reels of a nitrate release print and a reel of a later-generation safety print. Regrettably, the fourth reel remains lost.
Initially released as a silent feature with live accompaniment in December 1929, “Jüri Rumm” made its debut in two installments. The first part ran for seven days, starting from 11 December at Grand-Marina and Rekord cinemas in Tallinn, followed by the second part, which was shown for six days starting from 18 December. For the subsequent distribution in Tallinn and elsewhere, the two parts were edited together.
The music accompanying this presentation of “Jüri Rumm” was composed and performed by Stephen Horne (UK, piano) and Frank Bockius (Germany, percussion) in 2023. Horne and Bockius are internationally acclaimed silent film musicians who regularly perform at film heritage festivals around the world. The production and recording of the soundtrack was supported by Estonian Cultural Endowment.
{"director":"John (Johannes) Loop, Boris Borissoff (Jaanikosk), Mihhail Lepper","year":1929,"duration":6060}