Although it was sold as a science fiction epic, THE DAY THE EARTH FROZE was actually a bizarre fantasy flick imported from Russia. In it, a lumberjack falls in love with a girl, and then must save her from a witch who holds the girl hostage until her brother submits and builds a "sampo" for her. A Sampo is some sort of mystical device that produces gold and food and such. Our hero rescues the girl but destroys the Sampo in the process. The witch retaliates by stealing the sun as our young leads are getting hitched. This plunges the world into snowy darkness, so our hero must gather an army to battle the witch and free the sun. These Russian fantasy flicks were always opulent because they were pride-reflecting products of the State. Around the same time this flick hit US theaters, another Russian fantasy was imported as THE MAGIC VOYAGE OF SINBAD -cashing in on the success of THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD by renaming the red flick's main character Sinbad! That one may be even more hallucinogenic than THE DAY THE EARTH FROZE!
No comments:
Post a Comment