Pete Blockhead(Movie, 1953)

Pekka Puupää (Swedish: Kalle Träskalle, also Pete Blockhead in English translation) is a 1953 Finnish comedy film directed by Ville Salminen and starring Esa Pakarinen, Masa Niemi and Siiri Angerkoski. It is the first film of the Pekka and Pätkä film series based on the comics by the same name created by Ola Fogelberg. The film was largely made on the same sets as Esa "Flies" to Kuopio, which came out in the same year and was also directed by Ville Salminen. Esa Pakarinen also wore exactly the same basic costume in every Pekka and Pätkä film. The film was shot in the winter and spring of 1953 and its production costs were 6,7 million Finnish marks. Although not much was expected from the movie based on the comic book, it was surprisingly successful, which led to twelve sequels. On television, the film was shown in 1965 on the Yle TV1 channel and it was watched by 1,6 million viewers. However, critics have never appreciated the loved film by the audience, let alone its sequels. Today critics consider that the "slapstick movie" has only nostalgic values, nothing more. Many critics turned... ()