KDO CHCE ZABIT JESSII

(vt Who Would Kill Jessie?)

   Film (1965). Filmove studio Barrandov. Dir Milos Macourek, Vaclav Vorlicek, starring Jiri Sovak, Dana Medricka, Olga Schoberova, Karel Effa, Juraj Visny. Screenplay Macourek, Vorlicek. 80 mins. B/w.

   This very funny Czechoslovak film was conceived for children, but the makers realized that the idea had satirical potential. An overworked professor (Sovak) becomes obsessed with a newspaper comic strip featuring a voluptuous heroine, Jessie (Schoberova), who is constantly being pursued by two villains - a malicious cowboy (Effa) and a displeasing analogue of SUPERMAN (Visny). He dreams a lot about Jessie. The straitlaced wife of the professor (Medricka), also a scientist, hasinvented a dream-manipulator with which she hopes to eradicate her husband's lascivious dreams, but it malfunctions and the three comic-book characters materialize in their apartment, causing upheaval. This exhilarating, well made film deserves wider distribution.

   JB/PN