Finnish film director, screenwriter, critic, and leftist radical, who made only five films before he was killed at the age of 29 in the Winter War in 1940. Nyrki Tapiovaara was a great admirer of French films and especially its expressionistic experiments. His most famous work is Varastettu kuolema (1938, The Stolen Death), which played with black and white shadows, and blended Soviet, French and German influences. Miehen tie (1937, Man's Way).Tapiovaara's last film, was based on the novel of F. E. Sillanpää, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1939.

"Kysymys on meidän vuosisatamme kansantaiteesta. Sanan taide, abstraktisempi, älyllisempi taide, on saanut laajojen joukkojen huvittajana, kehittäjänä ja turmelijana äkkiä luovuttaa paikan elävien kuvien taiteelle, joka vetoaa suoraan aisteihin. Ja filmin etuna on vielä se, että se vetoaa ihmisen bioloogisesti kaikkein arvokkaimpaan aistiin, silmään. Enimmät ihmisistä ovat silmäihmisiä, filmi puhuu heille välittömästi, aistittavine ihmisineen, aistittavine tapahtumineen. Elokuvasta elokuvaan, vuodesta vuoteen. Se painaa merkkinsä heidän tietoisuuteensa ja heidän tunne-elämäänsä kuin vahaan. Filmi ei ole vain ajanviete, vaan samaan aikaan se suorittaa omaa propagandaansa, ja se tekee sitä yhtä hyvin harmittomassa keskitason huvinäytelmässä kuin jossain reklaamipalassa. Jo nyt on filmi varmasti ehtinyt painaa leimansa ns. kansanhenkeen, ja mitä pitemmälle vuodet kuluvat, sitä ilmeisemmäksi asia käy." ('Filmi yhteiskunnallisessa taistelussa' by Nyrki Tapiovaara, Kirjallisuuslehti, Numero 3, 1936, p. 61)

Veikko Nyyrikki (Nyrki) Tapiovaara was born in Hämeenlinna, the son of Kaarlo Juho Vihtori Tapiovaara, a forest officer, and Aino Aleksandra (Gröönroos) Tapiovaara, the daughter of a prosperous farmer. The family had eleven children who all had Kalevalaic names; Nyrki was the third. Aino Aleksandra encouraged her children in their artistic aspirations. Eventually Tapio Tapiovaara (1908-1982), Nyrki's elder brother, become a painter and graphic artist. In Hämeenlinna the family lived in a large house designed by the father of the painter Carl Albert Edelfelt.

Tapiovaara studied at the Lycée of Hämeenlinna. With his brother Tapio he was up to pranks in every way, and was expelled from the school for a year in 1928-29. Tapiovaara was also an eager athlete, whose idol was the middle-distance and long-distance runner Paavo Nurmi, called the "Flying Finn". Tapiovaara's first published text from 1925 was a report on an athletic competition. His friends included the future poet Viljo Kajava and the future journalist and writer Matti Kurjensaari.

In 1929, Tapiovaara's mother died of cancer; she was forty three. After graduating from the Lycée, Tapiovaara entered in 1930 the University of Helsinki. In the same year he volunteered in the army. When Tapiovaara did not show much progress in his law studies, his father stopped supporting his life in Helsinki and called him back to Hämeenlinna.

During this period Tapiovaara became interested in films. He served as a film critic, and worked as a theater director in Helsinki and activist in the first Finnish film club, Projektio, inspired by the French cine-clubs. For a period Tapiovaara was the artistic leader of the renewed Workers' Stage (Työväen Näyttämö), commissioned to direct I. J. Golden's "drama of real life" Lakonjohtaja (1931, Precedent: A Play About Justice), about Tom Mooney (in the play Thomas Delaney). He was a Socialist union organizer and activist, who had been convicted of the 1916 San Francisco Preparedness Day bombing.

Some members of the fascist Patriotic People's Movement (IKL) attented its performance in the autumn of 1934 in their black shirts, but the provocation had no effect on the audience. Ajan suunta, the mouthpiece of IKL, condemned the play as "blatant communist agitation". (Filmikirjailijat: elokuvakäsikirjoittaminen Suomessa 1931–1941 by Raija Talvio, Helsinki: Aalto-yliopisto, taiteiden ja suunnittelun korkeakoulu, 2015, p. 94) The set design of play at the People's House of Käpylä was by Tapio Tapiovaara. The playwright and translator Toini Aaltonen, who worked for the Työväen Näyttämö, became Tapiovaara's life companion. Tapiovaara also directed Clifford Odets' Paradise Lost for the theatre. 

Tapiovaara's theatrical experience prepared him to be a film director, a role he took with the 1937's Juha.  His own place as a director Tapiovaara defined somewhere between commercially oriented film industry and avantgarde, Hollywood productions and the Soviet films. This third way was, according to Tapiovaara, seen in the works of G. W. Pabst, René Clair, and the English documentary directors.

The political and cultural atmosphere in Finland during the interwar period had a nationalist, right-wing tone. Since 1930, the Communist party had been outlawed and the slogan "home, religion and fatherland" dominated the official cultural policy. However, a number of writers and artists followed international trends. During his visit in Stockholm Tapiovaara bought "illegal literature"and was caught at the customs, but no charges were pressed.

In 1936-37, Tapiovaara served as chairman of the Kiila (Wedge), the most important leftist circle of writers and artists after the Torch Bearers. Wedge was anti-fascist and more or less Marxists. Tapiovaara also contributed to the Torch Bearers magazine, which he had restored with his brother Tapio, Viljo Kajava, Raoul Palmgren, and Erkki Vala. His writings in Jarno Pennanen's Kirjallisuuslehti on film theory reveal familiarity with Marxist thought and concepts. The magazine was funded secretly by the Finnish Communist Party. In an article from 1936 Tapiovaara views the film production as a part of the superstructure and a reflection of economic and social base. "Yhteiskunta painaa leimansa filmin sisältöön, se propagoi omaa itseään, se luovuttaa filmille osan omasta joko sairaasta tai terveestä elinvoimastaan ja se ulottaa vaikutuksensa niin pitkälle kuin näyttelijän valintaa saakka." ('Filmimaita ja filmi-ihmisiä' by Nyrki Tapiovaara, Kirjallisuuslehti, Numero 4, 1936, pp. 77–80) From his travels in 1937 in Sweden, the Soviet Union, and France, Tapiovaara wrote several articles for the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat and the magazine Elokuva-aitta.

Before Tapiovaara's screen version of Juhani Aho's novel Juha (1911), Mauritz Stiller had filmed the story under the title Johan (1921), starring Mathias Taube (Johan) and Jenny Hasselqvist (Marit). Juha, shot mostly in Kuusamo, was produced by Heikki Aho, the son of the author, and Björn Soldan, who was Aho's illegitimate son from a liaison with Tilly Soldan. A part of the negative was destroyed in a fire. Some reviewers noted that the ending was rather anti-climactic. In the story, a triangle drama, a young woman who has married an older country man, leaves her husband for a seducer. Irma Seikkula played Marja, Hannes Närhi was in the title role, and Walle Saikko (Vladimir Sajkovic), an amateur actor, was the stranger, Shemeikka. Sajkovic became later professor of literature in the United States at the Massachusetts State University.

After finishing Juha, Tapiovaara travelled to Paris, where he reported for the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat on exhibitions of the 1937 Paris World's Fair, arguing that modern art, embodied in the work of Pablo Picasso, is never in peace with itself or the surrounding world. Tapiovaara's next project, Varastettu kuolema (The Stolen Death), which shows the influnce of René Clair, was photographed by Erik Blomberg. "Nyrki oli luonteeltaan hyvin rehti. Hän oli meitä vanhempi, oli harrastanut filosofiaa, kuvaamataiteita, hänellä oli selvä kanta asioihin, meillä ei, hänellä oli paljon teoreetista tietoa elokuvasta, minä taas olin saanut käytännön kokemusta. Minä sanoisin, että Nyrkissä löytyi sivistynyt mies käsityöläisten sakkiin..." (cinematographer Erik Blomberg on Nyrki Tapiovaara, in Erik Blomberg by Sakari Toiviainen, Helsinki: Suomen elokuva-arkisto, 1983, p. 16) Blomberg wrote the first version of the script, in collaboration with Eino Mäkinen. Loosely based on Runar Schildt's short story 'Köttkvarnen' (1919, The Meat-grinder), which was set during the Civil War, the film told about underground independence fighters of the early 20th century, in 1904-1905. The title of the original story referred  to a machine-gun which an idealistic young man wants to purchase.

The Stolen Death received mixed reviews – one critic considered its "decadent style of photography" alien to the Finnish spirit. "Why was the room of the arms trader first shown from a high angle?" asked A.S-o. In one of its most impressive scenes the two lovers, Robert and Manja, run through a yard full of clothes hanging out to dry. The characters speak Finnish, Swedish, Russian, and English without subtexts. Alf Sjöberg's film Med livet som insats (1940, Life at stake), set in an unnamed country, was based on the same story. This adaptation was banned in Norway during the German occupation.

Kaksi Vihtoria (Two Victors), a satire about the petty bourgeoisie, was based on Tatu Pekkarinen's popular play, inspired by George McManus' comic strip Bringing Up Father. The production company, Eloseppo-yhtiö, needed money to finance other projects, and shot the film in a month. Vihtori Rantamo (Eino Jurkka) is a businessman and upstart, who is under the thumb of his wife, Klaara. When she travels to country, Vihtori starts drinking. (What would a Finnish comedy be without people drinking a lot.) He goes to restaurant with his friend, whose name is also Vihtori. The restaurant sequence records popular variety entertainment of the era from music to imitation of pigs, and from Can Can Dance to the popular Lambert Walk. Sulamit, composed by Matti Jurva, is heard twice. Mirjami Kuosmanen's performance of the song is one of its highlights.

Herra Lahtinen lähtee lipettiin (Mr. Lahtinen Slouches off), which premiered on September 10, 1939 in Helsinki, Lahti and Oulu, was based on Kjeld Abell's play with music, Melodin der blev vaek (1935, The Melody That Got Lost / Kadonnut sävel). When Tapiovaara reviewed this Danish comedy at the Swedish Theatre in Helsinki in 1937, he wondered why it didn't end with the International like in the Copenhagen stage production: "Siinä kööpenhaminalaisessa esityksessä, jota kirjailija itse on ollut muovaamassa, liittyi paitsi työmiehen kohtauksessa myös lopussa melodian alle soimaan Kansainvälisen sävel. En tiedä, mistä Ruotsalainen Teatteri on tilannut nuottinsa, mutta Kansainvälisestä ei kuulunut akordiakaan. Sen sävelen poistaminen on mielivaltaa, sillä se ei soi koskaan ilman tarkoitusta." ('Melodia' by Nyrki Tapiovaara, Kirjallisuuslehti, Nro 3,1937, p. 45) In the story Mr. Lahtinen, an office employee, rebels against boredom and starts to search for the lost song of joy. "Käyttäen filmileikkelyä mitä mielikuvituksellisimmin on saatu aikaan tavattoman abstraktisia kuvia, yleisölle ehkä osaksi liian vaikeasti tajuttavia," said a reviewer in Helsingin Sanomat a day after the premier. (quoted in Suomalaisen elokuvan lyhyt historia by Juri Nummelin, Helsinki: Avain, 2022, p. 54)

Only 43 minutes has remained from the footage of the film, made under the influence of Gustav Machaty's Extacy (1932), one of the most famous silent Czech features of the era. At its time Extacy's camerawork was praised superb, but it is perhaps best remembered for its sequence in which the young Hedy Kiesler (later Hedy Lamarr) rushes through the woods completely nude.

Miehen tie (Man's Way), an adaptation of F. E. Sillanpää's novel with the same title, was Tapiovaara's fifth and last film. The protagonist is a farmer, Paavo, whose wife dies and his life then goes downhill. Eventually Paavo overcomes his troubles and marries his early love, Alma. Tapiovaara wrote the script together with the author – the overall spirit of the film was faithful to the book. Many scenes were shot in the summer of 1939 in Hämeenkyrö, the landscape of Sillanpää's childhood. Blomberg's camera loved the sensual, dark haired Mirjami Kuosmanen, cast in the role of Alma. Moreover, Sillanpää, whose wife Sigrid had just died, couldn't take his eyes off her and followed her like a puppy. But there was no romance: Kuosmanen married Erik Blomberg in 1939.

The film was completed by Hugo Hytönen, Erik Blomberg, and Mirjami Kuosmanen after Tapiovaara's death. He disappeared on February 29, 1940 during the Winter war between Finland and the Soviet Union, on a reconnaissance mission in Tohmajärvi. His patrol came under small-arms fire in Suojärvi, and while the others were retreating he kept on shooting the advancing enemy. After being hit he, continued shooting.

For further reading: Lavean tien sankarit: suomalainen elokuva 1931-1939 by Kari Uusitalo (1975); Nyrki Tapiovaaran tie by Sakari Toiviainen (1986); Suomalaisen elokuvan kultainen kirja by Peter von Bagh (1992); Kotomaan koko kuva: kirjoituksia elokuvasta ja 1930-luvun sosiaalihistoriasta, edited by Elina Katainen (1993); Från Runar Schildts novell "Köttkvarnen" till filmen Den stulna döden: en adaptations tillkomst och tidsnivåer by Henrik Rosenberg (1995); 'Nyrki Tapiovaaran ja Helvi Leiviskän Juha: musiikki elokuvan, draaman ja romaanin intertekstuaalisessa kentässä' by Eila Tarasti, Synteesi, Nro 4 (1996); Drifting Shadows by Peter von Bagh (1999); 'Varastettu kuolema [Stolen Death],' in Guide to the Cinema of Sweden and Finland by Per Olov Qvist and Peter von Bagh (2000); Romaanihenkilön muodonmuutoksia: kuusi kirjoitusta henkilökuvauksesta, edited by Pirjo Lyytikäinen and Päivi Tonteri (2003); Yksitoista Tapiovaaraa by Matti Rinne (2008); Filmikirjailijat: elokuvakäsikirjoittaminen Suomessa 1931–1941 by Raija Talvio (2015); 'Runar Schildt: Lihamylly (teoksessa Kotiinpaluu, 1919)' & 'Nyrki Tapiovaara: Varastettu kuolema (1938),' in 50 suomalaista kirjaa ja elokuvaa by Juri Nummelin (2017); 'Varastettu kuolema (1938) poliittisena elokuvana' by Mikko-Olavi Seppälä, Lähikuva, Vol 30 Nro 3 (2017); 'Judgment Day: The Workers' Stage and the Popular Front in 1930s Finland' by Mikko-Olavi Seppälä, Nordic Theatre Studies, Vol. 29, No. 2 (2018); 'Nyrki Tapiovaara - Between Avant-Garde and Mainstream Cinema' by Kimmo Laine, in A Cultural History of the Avant-Garde in the Nordic Countries 1925–1950, edited by Benedikt Hjartarson, Andrea Kollnitz, Per Stounbjerg, and Tania Ørum (2019)

Films:

• Juha, 1937 - screenplay by Heikki Aho, Björn Soldan, N.T., based on Juhani Aho's novel Juha, starring Irma Seikkula, Hannes Närhi, Walle Saikko, Tuulikki Paananen
• Varastettu kuolema, 1938 (The Stolen Death) - screenplay by Eino Mäkinen, Erik Blombrg, Matti Kurjensaari - based on Runar Schildt's short story 'Köttkvarn' (1919), starring Tuulikki Paananen, Ilmari Mänty (= the diplomat Ralph Enckell), Santeri Karilo, Annie Mörk
• Kaksi Vihtoria, 1939 (Two Henpecked Husbands / Two Victors) - screenplay by N.T. and Erik Blomberg, based on Tatu Pekkarinen's play Klaara ja hänen Vihtorinsa, starring Eino Jurkka, Arvi Tuomi, Annie Mörk, Sointu Kouvo, Helmeri Kaski
• Herra Lahtinen lähtee lipettiin, 1939 (Mr. Lahtinen Slouches Off) - screenplay by N.T. and Ralf Parland, based on Kjeld Abell's play Melodin der blev vaek (1935, Kadonnut sävel), starring Fritz-Hugo Backman, Märtha Jaatinen, Hertta Leistén, Lauri Korpela
• Miehen tie, 1940 (Man's Way) - screenplay by F.E. Sillanpää and N.T., based on Sillanpää's novel Miehen tie (1932), starring Gunnar Hiilloskorpi, Mirjami Kuosmanen, Hugo Hytönen, Helvi Järvelänen, music by George de Godzinsky.