Sampo

I can only remember seeing this movie once, back in my schooldays in the early 70's. The tile being "The Day the Earth Froze". What most comes to mind was the fantastic atmosphere it had, very dark, gloomy almost surreal. It was about a Sampo (as far as I could make out or remember, it was a machine for making either money or gold). Everyone in the movie seemed old, dirty and poor. I think it was their quest to find the sampo or retrieve it or something like that. I would love to know if the movie ever made it to video.

Directed by Russian fantasy film maker Alexander Ptushko, so you can count on striking visuals and lots of in-camera effects (lots of dissolves, split screens etc.) Despite cheesy dubbing this film still holds much of its fantastical charm. It has a look similar to German expressionist works like Fritz Lang's 'Siegfried' or Murnau's 'Faust'. It also strikes me as possibly inspirational to Guy Madden's films such as 'Tales of the Gimli Hospital' or 'Careful'. (Its antiquated appearance is only enhanced by the poor faded color present in the prints I've seen. Definitely worthy of a Ruscico DVD restoration/release) After watching my non MST3K'O'd copy, I just can't get that crazy harp theme from the film's climax out of my head. One of the most persistent tunes since "In Heaven" from Eraserhead. "SAMPO...SAMPO...SAMPO!"

Like with Sadko/The Magic Voyage of Sinbad and Ilya Muromets/The Sword and the Dragon, Sampo (or The Day the Earth Froze for its American version) is an Aleksandr Ptushko film spoilt by bad dubbing that wasn't even necessary in the first place. The American version is incoherent and unbearably goofy, but the original Soviet-Finnish film is just lovely and it is this version that I'll be talking about now. Maybe the dialogue doesn't always flow and the middle's pacing is on the stoic side. However, it is a beautiful-looking film, the costumes and sets are in equal measure beautiful and eerie, the film is nicely shot with techniques that scream of Ptushko(and in a good way) and the special effects are simple but awe-inspriring and some are wonderfully weird. The music score positively sweeps, with the fantasy-adventure themes and folk-song-like melodies wholly appropriate. The story is also simple, but coherent and mostly attention-grabbing, giving us time to breathe and admire everything. While the tone is on the most part suitably eerie and profound, there are also some nice oddball touches that don't feel out of place(if there was anything at all like that it certainly wasn't as bad as it was in its American version). The characters are very like the characters that you'll find in a fantasy/fairy-tale and they are engaging. There seems to be a mixed reception on the Witch here, depends on the version seen I think, she is irritating in the dub but in Ptushko's original she is very sinister. The acting is solid and fitting for their characters. All in all, a lovely film but sadly it has a really bad dub that because of MST3K more people will be familiar with. 8/10 Bethany Cox

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Aleksandr Ptushko; Produced by Gleb Kuznetzov; a Finnish-Soviet co-production for Suomi-Filmi and Mosfilm, released as 'The Day the Earth Froze" in America by Renaissance Films, then TV syndication by American-International TV. Screenplay by Viktor Vitkovich and Grigori Yagdfeld; Photography by Gennadi Tsekvyj and Viktor Yakushev; Music by Igor Morozov. Starring: Urho Spmersalmi, Anna Orochko, Ivan Voronov and Ada Voytsik.

Taken from a story in Elias Lonnrot's classic "The Kalevala", the great poetic cycle of classic Finnish folktales, this prettily photographed period fantasy is incredibly childish. Nominally, the title is truthful, since herein the witch of the shadowy land, with the aid of the enchanted one -Sampo, changes the sun's course and causes the world to freeze.

My only exposure to Sampo (aka The Day the Earth Froze) comes by way of Mystery Science Theater 3000. I have an extensive collection of MST3K movies (almost 200) and of those the Russo-Finnish movies (Sampo, The Sword and Dragon, Jack Frost, et al) are among my favorites. They lend themselves to Mystification but are entertaining and, (dare I say it?) absorbing in and of themselves. They contain a quaint charm and stark moral values and despite their quirkiness, are entertaining. In a day and age in which we find serial killer 'good guys' and ambiguous moral lessons the old Russo-Finnish fairy tales are the preferred entertainment for this century's jaded child. This review is not about The Day the Earth Froze SPECIFICALLY but is merely a comment on the simple moral tales of the good-old-days. R.I.P.