Film was digitally remastered in 2008 with program "Estonian Film 90th Anniversary".
Forgotten director and his unknown film. Theodor and Aksella Luts fled World War II three times. From Estonia to Finland, then to Sweden and at last for Brazil. They arrived to Rio de Janeiro on the night of the June of 24.th 1946. Luts started working himself up for the fourth time and filmed or directed both feature films and short films.
After Luts' death, his wife Aksella destroyed his entire archive at his request. Aksella Luts lived in Brazil for another 16 years. The Finnish-Estonian film group met her in 1996. When the old lady was convinced that there were no KGB agents in the group, the filmmakers managed to entice her to come back to live in Estonia. Theodor Luts was a banned person in Soviet Estonia.
The original music of the film has been lost in wars and decades. It is known that the original orchestra was conducted by Voldemar Taggo, who was closely connected with city Pärnu and was also known as a skilled conductor.
No original cinema notes have been found in Estonia. It is also not known exactly which works Voldemar Taggo used at that time. The remastered version's soundtrack is based on renowned composers with most familiar works of theirs who were topical in Taggo's time.
The film negative was developed in 1927 Theodor Luts' laboratory in Tartu, copies were made in the Geyer-Werke laboratory in Berlin.
Original had 10 parts (8 parts have been preserved). Estimated duration about 100 minutes, restored version 87 min 22 sec (22 fr/sec).
The negative of the film remained in the Geyer-Werke copier factory, and its fate can only be guessed - it burned away in the fires of the World War II. One copy and its duplicates have been preserved in Estonia. Based on the French subtitles preserved in the Estonian State Archives, it can be understood that two longer and one short passage of the film has been lost. What exactly was in the picture can only be guessed at: the imprisonment of Laansoo by the Reds, the escape of his sister to the Estonians and then, a little towards the end: preparing for a decisive battle on the side of both the Estonians and the Reds. Sakala and Võru Teataja published photos of the spree of reds before the big fight, there are no such shots in the film at the moment. There have also been photos of a part of student life published at the time, the corresponding pictures cannot be found in the film again.