Teuvo Tulio (1912-2000) was one of the most original directors in Finnish film history. Growing up in the newly independent Finland, he lived most of his life in the Finnish cultural and social context, yet he always remained something of an outsider and ended up as a total recluse.This is the first English-language collection on this innovative director, exploring Tulio's unique style and the extent, and effect of his obsessive recirculation of story elements and stylistic patterns in his work. A range of international scholars analyse how Tulio created his own brand of excessive melodrama, and follow the strange trajectory of his career from within the studio system to the outsider status of an independent producer-director.