Sampo 1959 Written by Väinö Kaukonen, Viktor Vitkovich and Grigori Yagdfeld, directed by Aleksandr Ptushko and Risto Orko. This Russian Finnish co-production was filmed in Russian and Finnish with the dialog dubbed in later. Each scene was also filmed in standard 4:3 and anamorphic widescreen ratios. The new Deaf Crocodile Blu-ray uses the 2014 4K restoration of the Finnish version. That's what we watched.
The film was released in the US in 1967 under the title The Day The Earth Froze by American International Pictures. The run time of the original is 91 mins and after the AIP hatch job it ran 67 mins. The AIP version was featured in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 back in the 90s.
It's a colorful fairy tale about the villagers in Kalevala who have a good life. The only thing they wish for is a Sampo. It's a magical device that creates salt, grain and gold from the air. Don't we all wish we had one. The blacksmith Ilmarinen can't make one, he needs some magic fire from the heavens.
Across a big lake there's a wicked witch called Louhi who wants a Sampo too. She finds out that the blacksmith in Kalevala can make one so she kidnaps his sister Annikki to force him to make her a Sampo. Louhi's got a box filled with fire from the heavens.
Lemminkäinen is the hero and Annikki is his girlfriend, he decides to go rescue her and Ilmarinen goes along. The witch makes them plow a field filled with snakes. She destroys their boat but Ilmarinen makes a metal boat. Louhi makes Ilmarinen forge a Sampo with her fire from the heavens. It works great and she releases Annikki, the trio leave for Kalevala.
Things don't end there, Lemminkäinen tries to steal the Sampo. He tricks the witch and her crew, steals the Sampo and escapes on a boat. Louhi sends some wind and the boat and the Sampo are destroyed, Lemminkäinen is thrown into the water and drowns. Lucky for him his mother finds his body washed up on the beach and revives him with some magical goings on.
Louhi steals the town's sun and the Earth freezes up until the villagers gang up and lead an attack on the witch and her minions. Lemminkäinen kills the witch and the sun is rescued. The village goes back to normal and the hero and his girl are married.
You can see there's plenty going on but it's told so slowly that the 91 mins seems a lot longer. It's a pretty film with great sets and a good look. I'm doubting that I need a copy, especially at the $35 that the film is on Amazon.
The Birds II 1994 A Showtime TV movie that's based on the Daphne du Maurier story of the same name, screenplay by Ken and Jim Wheat and Robert Eisele, directed by Rick Rosenthal under the name Alan Smithee.
For those that don't know Alan Smithee is the name directors use if they don't want their name associated with the film they've directed. Rick has good reason to distance himself from the film. It's pretty darn poor, scoring a 2.9 on the IMDb. With this new release there's a good chance of voting the film a lower score. I gave it a generous 2 and I see 34.3% of the voters gave it a 1. I seem to hear their voices telling me to join them.
There's no connection to the Hitchcock film other than a mention of some birds attacking the people in the town in the original movie. A family, Brad Johnson, Chelsea Field and their two girls move into a house on an island on the east coast. It's filmed in Southport North Carolina.
There's some family tension, their son died 5 years ago and Brad is still having a hard time. He's supposed to be writing his dissertation but he's not working much. He's more worried about his wife working for James Naughton on the local paper. Good reason, James is a creep who tries his moves on Chelsea.
The birds seem very active but some people are slow to notice, especially the mayor/doctor. He ignores Brad and the lighthouse keeper on the activity until it's too late. Lucky for him he burns up in the sea and doesn't have to face to locals for his failure. The whole movie is a bit of a failure, dull story, bad dialog and way too much personal melodrama. It seemed like the end would never come.
Tippi Hedren, who was the main star in the Hitchcock film has a small part. She was disappointed with that but she did say it helped feed her lions and tigers. After seeing the end film she was embarrassed by it. Me too. The film will be out August 30th from Vinegar Syndrome, it won't be going onto my Wishlist.