(1952)
Dir - Roland af Hällström
Overall: MEH
An odd folk horror/sex romp hybrid, The Witch, (Noita palaa elämään, Return of the Witch), is notable for being one of Finland's earliest works in the genre, as well as for its liberal nudity and risque dialog. Director Roland af Hällström and screenwriters Viljo Hela and Kaarlo Nuorvala adapt Mika Waltari's 1947 novel of the same name, presenting it as a lighthearted fairy tale with a simple enough message that wickedness resides in all of us and to a more chauvinistic extent, that "All women are witches". This is more ironic when viewing since the men come off the worst, with Mirja Mane's titular character effortlessly enticing every guy on the screen, all of whom cannot stop having innuendo-laced conversations and taking her in their arms as much as they condemn her for having such horny control over their genitals. Mane spends a significant portion of the film in her birthday suite and when her clothes are kept on, she still frolics, manically amuses herself, and bites people in a playful manner, giving the movie a type of taboo-pushing glee that outshines any potential atmospheric elements. Such things are undone by a horrendously inappropriate musical score that plays arbitrarily during scenes and seems to have been plucked out of a different film. The plot is also monotonous and chatty, making this more of a historical curiosity than anything else.
(1953)
Dir - Román Viñoly Barreto
Overall: GOOD
Equipped with one of the most misleading titles imaginable, The Black Vampire, (El vampiro negro), features neither any members of the undead nor any black people and is instead an Argentinian film noir reworking of Fritz Lang's seminal M. Though more pathetic than menacing, Nathán Pinzón makes a fittingly eerie Peter Lorre stand-in, still managing to look like a beaten down puppy even when going into a rage. Though it keeps the angle of the killer targeting children, the blind beggar recognizing his whistling, and his capture by way of the city's underbelly citizens, every other plot aspect is unique to this version and it adds more dynamics to the murder's persona, as well as a sexually frustrated police detective and a working girl whose daughter is Pinzón's would-be final victim, both of whom take up the majority of the narrative. Though it is not paced as compellingly as Lang's original and is nowhere near as suspenseful, director Román Viñoly Barreto pulls off an agreeably dark final act. The real star of the show though is Aníbal González Paz' expressive cinematography, lighting prominent eye lines and casting sinister shadows in every frame.
(1955)
Dir - Karel Zeman
Overall: MEH
A notable fusing of 2D and 3D model animation with live action, Journey to the Beginning of Time, (Cesta do pravěku), serves its purpose as a lightweight educational film for its era. Director Karel Zemun had and would continue to make a number of movies that relied heavily on special effects and animation and this one takes its narrative cue from two novels, Vladimir Obruchev's Plutonia from 1915 and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World from 1912. Throwing four jolly-wiz teenagers into a raft where they inexplicably end up in and innocently explore Earth's bygone, pre-human eras is dopey stuff, but it works fine in the context of a documentary where the kids constantly notify the audience as to the specifics of their findings. The American re-edited throws in bookending segments at the American Museum of Natural History in New York that "explain" the movie's events as an elaborate dream, but the bulk of the film was shot at a Czech nature reserve, two different rivers, and conventional studio sets. The prehistoric beast shots are noticeably smoother than Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion and blend with the young actors as well as any from the time period, but there are also puppets utilized as well as a convincing, life-sized model of a defunct Stegosaurus.
Dir - Karel Zeman
Overall: MEH
A notable fusing of 2D and 3D model animation with live action, Journey to the Beginning of Time, (Cesta do pravěku), serves its purpose as a lightweight educational film for its era. Director Karel Zemun had and would continue to make a number of movies that relied heavily on special effects and animation and this one takes its narrative cue from two novels, Vladimir Obruchev's Plutonia from 1915 and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World from 1912. Throwing four jolly-wiz teenagers into a raft where they inexplicably end up in and innocently explore Earth's bygone, pre-human eras is dopey stuff, but it works fine in the context of a documentary where the kids constantly notify the audience as to the specifics of their findings. The American re-edited throws in bookending segments at the American Museum of Natural History in New York that "explain" the movie's events as an elaborate dream, but the bulk of the film was shot at a Czech nature reserve, two different rivers, and conventional studio sets. The prehistoric beast shots are noticeably smoother than Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion and blend with the young actors as well as any from the time period, but there are also puppets utilized as well as a convincing, life-sized model of a defunct Stegosaurus.
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