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Cassandra Cat and Carnival Story - Double Feature (Region Free) |
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Cassandra Cat and Carnival Story - Double Feature (Region Free)
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Sales Rank: 109289
Price: $1.24
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Cassandra Cat featuring Emilia Vasaryova, Vlastimil Brodsky and Vaclav Babka. Directed by Vojtech Jasny. Carnival Story featuring Ann Baxter, Steve Cochran, Lyle Bettger and George Nader. Directed by Kurt Neuman. Eastwest DVD.
Viewer Reviews
This was one of a handful of two-film DVD's I found in a discount-store bin. The first movie, "Carnival Story," was an entertaining circus drama starring a radiant Anne Baxter.
At the end, I let the player go on to the second movie, "Cassandra Cat," which I expected to be a mere curiosity, especially since the titles were clearly foreign (Czech), and the color was somewhat faded and variable (I think it was in Eastmancolor or a similar process - the color in such films made before 1983 has tended to deteriorate over the years).
"Cassandra Cat" (Az prijde kocour) was directed by Vojtech Jasny, and had been awarded a Special Jury Prize at Cannes. It is dubbed in English, and this, in my opinion, was very well done. The dubbing is synchronized with lip movement as closely as possible, and the voices and inflections match their respective characters quite convincingly.
But the fantasy element is what enchanted me. "Cassandra Cat" is utterly unlike any American pop-culture film; I was transported to a different world from the start. The music (by Svatopluk Havelka) truly is, as one reviewer characterized it, "sublime."
I won't even try to describe the storyline, which is replete with satire and allegory. It is a morality play, albeit a quite surreal one at times. The riot scene following the pantomime is incredible, an almost psychedelic tour-de-force. A lovely pastoral scene with gorgeous visuals and baroque-like music provides a touching contrast. And there's so much more.
This daring film is all the more remarkable because it was made in 1963, when the visual arts still operated under the restrictions imposed by the party and the government, some five years before the short-lived "Prague Spring."
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Cassandra Cat and Carnival Story - Double Feature (Region Free)
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