Customer Reviews

The Day The Earth Froze

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A little necessary background:

SADKO is a Russian fable about a harpist living in Novgorod who charms the Sea King and winds up rich. He also winds up sailing overseas to sell wares and, during a storm, is forced overboard where he once again charms the Sea King with his harp and is compelled to chose a wife from among the King's maidens before finding his way home to happily-everlasting-ness. (This has been turned into a famous opera by Rimsky-Korsakov called SAKDO.)

KALEVALA (pronounced: kah-lay-vah'-lah) is a Finnish epic poem compiled by Finnish poet Elias Lönnrot. It is at the heart of the Finnish culture and very familiar and dear to them. A few characters crop up thru out the poem. As does the magical Sampo which would spare the owners the rigor of work.

Which brings me to the movies:

THE MAGIC VOYAGE OF SINBAD was a Soviet Union's filming of SADKO dubbed by American Capitalist running dog Roger Corman into a Sinbad story. So now Sinbad is a tall, stocky blonde with heavy fur clothes to keep out the heat. The city of Novgorod substitutes for an Arabic city. But, even more ludicrious is the effort by the Soviet filmmakers, halfway thru the country's failed experiment in Socialism, to turn Sadko into a self-sacrificing proletariat (christians and liberals will be turned on by the message, too).

I can still recommend this film because the cinematography perfectly evokes a fairy tale, and the story can be enjoyable if you manage to put away your sophistication and see it thru a youngster's eyes. I saw it as a young teenager, and the scene with the Bird of Happiness with Rimsky-Korsakov's SONG OF INDIA filling my ears is one I recalled for all these years and caused me to search for the film until I finally found it again.

While the Finnish poem, KALEVALA, has very little plot spread diffusely thruout the enormous length, THE DAY THE EARTH FROZE pulls the threads together. There's something uneven about the plot. It is slow in spots, then engrossing in other spots. It is however, like the movie above, a visual delight, despite the (very obvious) skimpy production values.

I saw part of this film mocked by the Mystery Science Theater folk, but I kept thinking how I'd like to see the film without the intrusive teasing. I was very happy to find it on DVD and see it in its pristine form.

However, the cast credits are a hoot. They actors listed in the movie must be the voice dubbing actors (or they're entirely made up). Curiously, Amazon lists a different and more authentic-sounding cast (altho, they say the story is based on "Norse/Scandanavian mythology" -- which would be a surprise to the non-Scandanavian Finns).

Even though the price for this DVD combo disc has dropped considerably since it's initial release I simply could never justify buying it for myself, so one year I asked for it for Christmas. If you must have this DVD, pick up a used copy and save yourself a few bucks. I had long sought the "Sinbad" film, and had enjoyed the lampooning of "Froze" on an old episode of Mystery Science Theater.

The video & audio quality of both films is pretty bad. Looks like both were 'mastered' from old late night TV airings, or a horribly washed out VHS tape. I don't know whether these were originally in some sort of widescreen but I suspect that's the case, so be warned that both of these films are 4x3 pan & scan format. If you're hoping for nice 'Scope version of either movie, you're out of luck. That said, these aren't exactly popular movies available everywhere. In fact, the only other source I'm aware of is Sinister Cinema, and they're $19 each at that site, so for the price ($10 new, $6 used), you can't complain too much.

The "Sinbad" flick was originally a Russian film that had nothing to do with the Arabian adventurer's exploits, but the distributors figured (with good reason) that a story about a heroic Commie released in the Bay of Pigs era probably wouldn't generate much box office, so it was re-tooled as a Sinbad story. It is pretty cool, and features some neat visuals.

The Day the Earth Froze is a little hard to follow, but I suspect that this is more the fault of the sloppy adaption of the script into English and the dubbing. It's a fine fantasy film with some amazing visual effects. A note to younger viewers... these were made long before the age of CGI, so if you're expecting realistic F/X and super-detailed visuals you'll be disappointed. These movies require suspension of disbelief and good old fashioned imagination. If you have these traits then hop aboard, otherwise steer clear!

One can only hope & pray that some day a company with access to decent film source elements will affect a quality restoration & remastering of these two great lesser-known fantasy pictures. Until then we have this DVD to bookmark that space in our collections until something better shows up.

The Day the Earth Froze is a Finnish fantasy given the MST3K treatment in season 4... I don't know if this is on any of the MST3K Rhino compilations but it should be, it was in my top 3 best Mystery Science Theaters ever. This is the famous Sampo movie... any MSTie would know that Sampo was referenced in many of their subsequent rips (this and Manos Hand of Fate), but this flick is actually quite good on it's own, if not bizarre and Finnishly surreal. The Sampo is a mythical device, sort of a cornucopia, that looks like an overwrought espresso machine, that dispenses gold, flour and salt... all the Finnish neccesities! (classic Tom Servo comment, "You'd be surprised that the line for the gold isn't that long") This was acquired by Roger Corman at one point and re-editted by Francis Ford Coppola, for redistribution in the states for cash. I believe the Sinbad movie was similarly reworked, as noted by the other reviewer. I haven't seen it so I can't comment on it, but for a very bizarre Wizard of Oz via Finland flick, the Day the Earth Froze is worth the price of admission.

If you go into these with the understanding that the films are old and a little rough around the edges--and strangely dubbed--your expectations will be exceeded a hundredfold. These are really, really good. I think the Sinbad here is every bit as good as the better-known American versions. Lots of beautiful women and strong-looking men with swords and adventure in their blood. Sinbad is on a mission to find The Bird of Happiness. It's hilarious. There's a totally captivating underwater scene with singing fish and octopus and Nautilis and his wife. Sinbad escapes riding on a sea horse. The entire film is delightful.

The other film ("The Day the Earth Froze") has incredible scenes from forests in God-Knows-Where. Beautiful. The main character genuinely "surfs" a log down a river--you don't see that nowadays!!

Really, both of these films capture scenes from exotic, obscure cultures from somewhere in the former Soviet Union or eastern Europe. These are treasure troves. They kind of reminded me of Bollywood films, but no singing routines. The colors and scenery are beautiful, and the sets are extremely creative. The sets also reminded me of original Star Trek episodes--conspicuous but colorfully effective.

I guarantee you that Spielberg and the guy who made Avatar have these films in their collections.

Bought his for my collection of early classics but was disappointed with acting, direction, and special effects even for its time.

The Kalevala is the Finnish national epic. JRR Tolkien enjoyed reading it- indeed,it inspired "The Lord of the Rings." Little did he know, but the Kalevala also inspired the cheesy Soviet-Finnish epic "The Day the Earth Froze."

In "The Day the Earth Froze",an evil witch (her look clearly inspired that of the wicked queen in "Willow") wants the all-powerful Sampo ("ask for it by name!" to quote the great Joel Hodgson) The Sampo is a magical machine of sorts that makes gold, flour, and salt. There are some hilarious struggles between her and the good guys. Of course,the leading man has the requisite B movie Prince Valiant 'do. As for the earth freezing, it doesn't happen until the last 20 minutes. If you want iced earth, watch "Day after tomorrow" instead. In "Day the Earth Froze", good triumphs over evil playing easy listening music.

"The Day the Earth Froze" is hilariously bad. Mystery Science Theater 3000 skewered it wonderfully. They grilled it--making it good viewing on a cold night!

"The Magic Voyage of Sinbad" was originally a lovely Russian film, based on Rimski-Korsakov's opera, "Sadko", which Roger Corman bought for AIP back in the early 1960s and then hired Jack Woods to write a dubbing script which transformed the whole thing into an Arabian Nights fantasy. This in an effort to cash in on the popularity of such fare at the time ("The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad", etc.) I was directly involved in the whole process of improving upon the original material. At the time I was an aspiring actor of sixteen and Mr. Woods was my agent. He worked mostly as an editor, but got to know Corman at some point, who persuaded him to go into the dubbing business. He completed a few projects which did reasonably well as matinee fillers and drive-in make out movies, such as "Pirate of the Blackhawk" and "Atlas". When he came to "The Magic Voyage of Sinbad", I was called in as an editing assistant and dubbing actor. I provided the voice for young Hadabad, who runs away with the famous Sailor on his quest for the ... um ... "Bird of Happiness". In the course of my own adventures behind the scenes I met Mr. Corman (he held up his hand to shake in such a way that I thought he meant me to kiss his class ring, which I did), even worked with him directly in the editing room and on the dubbing stage, where he hung out and himself filled in voices for crowd scenes. It is unfortunate that it cannot be distinguished from any of the others, for he had a lovely voice at the time, together with a quite ironed and pressed and neatly parted collegiate look that was then quite the chick magnet (he appears in the same guise for "Godfather II", where he plays a member of the Senate Committee). When the film was completed, it was sneak previewed (with "Breakfast at Tiffany's", possibly a greater work: certainly the lip synching was more believable, and there was this Audry Hepburn goddess in it that bested all the women in our effort), yes, sneak previewed, as I say, at a second run house in West Hollywood, forget the name of the place. But, well, in it's original form, Sinbad comes into town, takes a look around and says, "I have come!" This brought on laughter which did not stop for the other 79 minutes of the show. Mr. Corman took Jack aside in the lobby afterwards and said, "Looks like we have a few problems." I, myself, by this time had skulked away into the night, trying to change my voice. Later, I guess Corman hired Francis Coppola to pull the thing into better shape because, having recently bought the DVD from our host here and viewed it for the first time in ... what? forty years? ... well, a long time, anyways, I have to say it is not as bad as it was when it first came out. Seems to have been all pulled together with a narration and some of the dumber lines have been removed. Mine, sad to say, remain intact. My salary provided me with the price of a SAG card, which I never needed to use, for I didn't work again as an actor but went on to fail at other things until I finally settled on becoming the great novelist that I am today. Jack Woods subsequently did fine work as an editor for John Cassavetes ("Husbands", etc.), even did some directing and acting for "Equinox", a film that was well reviewed by Rolling Stone ... um, you see, man, at that time it was fashionable to alter the consciousness in certain ways and things which would otherwise look quite ordinary became exceedingly groooooooovy!

Poor quality special effects and wooden acting.Not much better than an amateurish school pantomine.Possibly due to dubbing.