Early Career
As a teenager, Vaala befriended Theodor Tugai – who later became known as a film director and actor under the name Teuvo Tulio – and the pair recognized their common interest in films. They decided to start making films together, but their first feature-length attempt, Mustat silmät in 1929, never received wide distribution. Vaala himself was reportedly so disappointed with the resulting film that he dumped the original camera negatives into the sea. However, later in the same year, Vaala and Tulio partially remade the film as Mustalaishurmaaja for the Fennica-Filmi company. This film became a hit and earned the starring Tulio the nickname "Finland's Valentino". The pair went on to make two other films, Laveaa tietä (1931) and Sininen varjo (1933) with Vaala directing and Tulio starring.
While Tulio moved on with his own acting and directing career, Vaala went on to direct his last film for Fennica-Filmi, Helsingin kuuluisin liikemies, in 1934. After the demise of Fennica, Vaala directed one film for Bio-Kuva, Kun isä tahtoo..., also in 1934. The next year Vaala was hired as the second director of the film production company, Suomi-Filmi, following Risto Orko. Vaala remained contracted to the company for the rest of his career.
Read more about this topic: Valentin Vaala
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