Prazske noci

In modern-day Prague, a horny middle-aged man in town for business is picked up by a beauty who alternately teases and rejects him while telling three macabre stories. In the first, a medieval aristocrat orders a rabbi to create a golem (a living man of clay), though a mysterious young woman may be the greater threat. Second, a vain, faithless18th-century noblewoman gets otherworldly comeuppance for the many men she's ruined. Finally, another beautiful woman poisons rich men to rob them--a story told in comic pantomime, with sung voiceover narration.

These are all ostensibly horror tales, but Eastern European wasn't really interested in that genre until later, so the approach is more that of whimsical moral fables on the macabre side. The tone is closer to Western European sex-comedy omnibuses of the period than their horror equivalents--but as with graphic horror, sexuality was also kept pretty well reined-in by Soviet bloc censors at the time. So while handsome and diverting, this movie has an almost apologetic, just-kidding feel, willing neither to embrace its horror or sexual aspects (or horror-of-sex aspects) in any vivid fashion.

The second second is probably the most stylish, but none of them sport the kind of bold directorial personality that compendiums like this benefit from. They're also somewhat hobbled by each (including the framing device, which the only part in B&W) having the same "Gullible fool destroyed by wicked temptress" gist, and there is little real variation (let alone depth) in the characterizations.

Overall, a watchable curiosity, but hardly any neglected classic, even by the often-forgiving standards of fantasy cinema.

Staying in Prague for business, a lonely middle-aged man meets a strange woman in the city and decides to court her, only for her to drag him to a remote cemetery and regale him with three tales about the city.

The Good Stor(ies): The Last Golem-Fearing for his villagers' safety, a rabbi is tasked with creating a Golem for his people, but a woman he secretly yearns for may become a greater complication than controlling his creation. Overall, this was a fairly enjoyable starting point for the film. The initial setup involves the need to create a bigger, more powerful Golem as a display of his power and capabilities over his rival who refuses to bring a used one back to life, there's enough personal animosity at the heart of everything that it justifies the creation of such a massive beast. This is created through a series of impressive visuals featuring the towering size of the creation interacting with his handlers which leads to a series of shocking revelations that occur here for a somewhat puzzling attempt at a morality play that doesn't have as much bite to it had it just included the shocking twists without tacking on the idea of it being done as a morality tale.

Fabricius and Zuzana-Staying in Prague for business, a lonely middle-aged man meets a strange woman in the city and decides to court her, only for her to drag him to a remote cemetery and regale him with three tales about the city. This is a decent enough wraparound that has some intriguing points to it. The central idea of him trying to court her and spending the time being receptive or rejecting the advances as they wander through the city leading to a location where the inspiration strikes her to tell a new story about something that happened there works wonderfully to introduce a new segment. Some of these, especially the initial meetup and the trip through the cemetery, offer some atmospheric touches, but several of the interstitial moments also drag on too long wearing out their welcome waiting to get to the next story.

The Bad Stor(ies): Bread Slippers-Trying to court a prospective suitor, a woman instructs him to create a specific brand of clothing for an upcoming ball only to find herself subject to a devastating curse instead. This was a rather underwhelming effort without much going for it. The main storyline here of the noblewoman's desires going beyond the norm and being the reason for her undoing with an outcome that meets her behavior gives this the kind of classic format this type of storyline excels at which becomes apparent at the end when everything gets revealed and spelled out. Otherwise, this one fails to hit the mark considerably with a lot of issues, mostly stemming from the lame setup that requires her to be so completely moronic that wearing a pair of shoes made of bread is a good idea. It's such an unlikely and idiotic concept the idea feels far too tacky and stupid this type of feature is going for, and with none of the characters being interesting or likable it just skates by on its lavish production values without offering anything else.

Poisoned Prisoner-After spending time with numerous suitors over the years, a woman finds that killing them is not as beneficial as she believed. This was a rather bizarre and avant-garde way to end things as it could've been fine in a more straightforward manner. The whole idea of the plotline to this one here is merely guessed at based on what's going on visually as the idea of what's going on with the poisoning of the various lovers and brutally killing them is a fine idea that takes on a wild touch with how it plays out in the fashion it does. The visuals of everything alongside the rather unusual presentation are present here. However, there's no real purpose to what goes on here as the dialogue-free presentation is told with a sing-song narration that's used to bring the story along but it's all so clumsily handled that it just makes everything much more confusing not having proper context for what's going on. Being the shortest one doesn't help it much either, and sticks out badly here.

Rated Unrated/R: Nudity, Language, and Violence.