Monday, January 2, 2012

Who Wants to Kill Jessie? (1966)

Who Wants to Kill Jessie? • Kdo chce zabít Jessii? (1966)
Who Wants to Kill Jessie? • Kdo chce zabít Jessii? (1966)

Czech New Wave
Genre: Comedy Sci-fi
Director: Václav Vorlícek
Starring: Dana Medrická, Jirí Sovák, Olga Schoberová, Juraj Visny, Karel Effa
Language: Czech
Duration: 80 min.
Rating: 7.4  

Summary:
A scientist invents a machine that projects a sleeping person's dreams on a screen. The trouble begins when she tries the contraption out on her husband and discovers his dreams are filled with cartoon-like characters doing outrageous things.  Disaster soon follows when the machine malfunctions and the dream characters become very real.



Who Wants to Kill Jessie? is a Czechoslovak film written and directed by Václav Vorlicek.  It premiered at the 1966 Locarno Film Festival, where it received a Special Mention award.

This comic book inspired romp stars Czech bombshell Olga Schoberová, who is perhaps the Czech equivalent to Marilyn Monroe or Brigitte Bardot, as the title character Jessie.  Looking at her, it's hard to believe anyone would ever want to kill her.  It follows a scientist couple, the husband (Jirí Sovák) a professor, and the wife (Dana Medrická) a dream researcher who has invented a device to cure bad dreams.  When she tries out her machine on her husband, the cartoon characters from his dreams materialize and quickly start to cause uncontrollable havoc. 

Though not very substantial or realistic, this equally funny, zany, and sexy film is a highly enjoyable watch.  Vorlicek puts together an original comedy with great style, while using some clever tricks like using speech bubbles for the dream characters' dialog.  Shot in widescreen and black and white, the visuals are crisp and though the special effects are dated, they don't detract from the experience at all.  Overall a fun watch if you are in the mood for some light and silly comedy done in the free spirited Czech New Wave style.  

Bonjour Tristesse

Who Wants to Kill Jessie? • Kdo chce zabít Jessii? (1966)

Who Wants to Kill Jessie? • Kdo chce zabít Jessii? (1966)

Who Wants to Kill Jessie? • Kdo chce zabít Jessii? (1966)

Who Wants to Kill Jessie? • Kdo chce zabít Jessii? (1966)

Who Wants to Kill Jessie? • Kdo chce zabít Jessii? (1966)

Who Wants to Kill Jessie? • Kdo chce zabít Jessii? (1966)

Who Wants to Kill Jessie? • Kdo chce zabít Jessii? (1966)

Who Wants to Kill Jessie? • Kdo chce zabít Jessii? (1966)

6 comments:

Bonjour Tristesse said...

I hope you do get to check it out one day.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

 It does have a lot of her running around in that scrap of a dress...

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yeah it's cool to see something so wacky from that era.

Hoi-Ming Ng said...

Hahaha, the poster looked like a film I'd have expected more from an exploitation film.

Shutter Bug said...

I like the premise! It's so fun and this is the kind of movie I think I would enjoy! :)

d_4 said...

The fact that this is an older Czech film makes it all the more interesting to me. I'm looking forward to it as a fun watch!

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