Director: Václav Vorlícek
Screenplay: Milos Macourek, Václav Vorlícek
Starring: Dana Medrická, Jirí Sovák, Olga Schoberová, Juraj Visny, Karel Effa, Vladimír Mensík, Karel Houska, Jan Libícek
Country: Czechoslovakia
Running Time: 82 min
Year: 1966
BBFC Certificate: 12
Whilst the films of the Czech New Wave drew international attention on the festival circuit, the more mainstream films, particularly those that followed during the period of ‘normalisation’, have been largely ignored. Yes, a lot of the output then was manufactured to fit into the Soviet ideals of the time, but there was still gold to be mined.
In particular, there was a raft of what were known in Czechoslovakia as blázníve komedie (crazy comedies). These were films that blended farce with fantasy or sci-fi and played out with inventive, often convoluted stories and playful visual effects.
Oldrich Lipsky made the first of these earlier in the decade in 1961, with Man From the First Century (a.k.a. Muz z prvního století), but it was his follow-up to this, 1964’s Lemonade Joe (a.k.a. Limonádový Joe aneb Konská opera), that properly kicked off the genre, due to its great popularity.
Václav Vorlícek’s 1966 film Who Wants to Kill Jessie? was another early example of a crazy comedy. It was the first of many collaborations between Vorlícek and screenwriter Milos Macourek, which included The Girl on the Broomstick, How to Drown Dr. Mracek, the Lawyer and You Are a Widow, Sir.
Macourek would also collaborate with some other notable directors of crazy comedies, writing scripts for popular titles such as Happy End and Tomorrow I Will Wake Up and Scald Myself With Tea.
Those last two titles I mentioned have previously been released by Second Run, as well as Vorlícek’s popular fantasy film, Three Wishes for Cinderella. I adored all three of them, so when the label announced they’d be releasing Who Wants to Kill Jessie? on Blu-ray, I was thrilled and got my hands on a copy as soon as I could. Here are my thoughts.
Who Wants to Kill Jessie? centres around a married couple, professors Dana Medřická (Dana Medrická) and Jindrich Beránek (Jirí Sovák). Dana is an expert in somnology (sleep) and has headed the development of a serum that can turn ‘bad’ dreams into more calming, dull ones. Meanwhile, Jindrich, who works in an engineering plant, is struggling with the damage and reduced productivity caused by some incredibly heavy machinery. He gets inspired to develop a pair of ‘anti-gravity gloves’ to help tackle the problem after reading a comic strip called ‘Who Wants to Kill Jessie?’.
The work of the pair collides in an unusual fashion after we discover Dana’s serum not only ends bad dreams, but extracts the central figures from them and sends them out into the real world, unbeknownst to its creator.
When Jindrich is caught dreaming about the voluptuous titular star of the ‘Who Wants to Kill Jessie?’ comic, his wife injects him with her serum, hoping to put an end to his dreamworld promiscuity. However, this brings to life not only Jessie (Olga Schoberová) but also her villainous pursuers, ‘Superman’ (Juraj Visny) and the cowboy Pistolník (Karel Effa).
The cartoons-come-to-life wreak havoc around the city whilst Jindrich attempts to learn the secret of Jessie’s anti-gravity gloves and Dana attempts to put them all, including her husband, behind bars.
Well, my burgeoning love of blázníve komedie looks set to continue, as I thought this was fantastic. It’s inventive, clever and uproariously funny, blending surrealism with satire and even a splash of bawdy humour.
It’s not all just wacky nonsense though. There’s political bite too, as the film looks at how the powers that be are trying to suppress dreams, or rather control minds. The scientists want to replace (or censor, in other words) ‘negative’ dreams with placid ones that conform to societal norms and make subjects more productive members of the state.
The power of the authorities takes an even more sinister turn later on, when the scientists attempt to get rid of the comic creations by cremating them whilst still alive. The orderly, Kolbaba (played by the great Vladimír Mensík), also suggests the similarly unsettling alternative of ‘re-educating’ them.
I’m surprised these obvious jabs at state censorship and governmental control got past the authorities, as the satire is only very thinly veiled. I guess they gave it a pass as it’s a surreal comedy, or perhaps they saw it as poking fun at comic books, which were seen as an indulgent Western phenomenon. The villains’ clear American inspirations likely helped too.
Interestingly, Who Wants to Kill Jessie? was set for an American remake that would star Jack Lemmon and Shirley Maclaine, but the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968 put an end to that.
There is another side to the film that’s a little more dated. There are running gags about domineering wives and henpecked husbands that probably wouldn’t make the cut in Hollywood comedies these days. It’s a shame that the initially tough and intelligent Jessie becomes a slightly weaker love-interest figure later on too. However, there’s nothing outright offensive in the film, as you might expect from a lot of comedies made in this era.
The film is also noteworthy for being an early example of a comic book movie. It’s among the first of a wave made in Europe during the ‘60s and was released the same year as the American Batman TV series, which had a similarly camp style.
From a filmmaking standpoint, Who Wants to Kill Jessie? is impressive too. It makes clever use of its comic creations, having them ‘speak’ in speech bubbles rather than through audible dialogue. These are put to great use too, with numerous gags revolving around the floating text. A little boy shouts, “but I can’t read!” after getting a telling off from Superman in one scene, and, later, a stenographer asks for a bubble to be turned around so that he can read it!
The film also makes good use of its pop-art visual influences elsewhere. Most notable is Jindrich’s initial dream sequence before the comic characters enter the real world. This is wonderfully stylised, with bold, minimalist production design, incorporating giant painted cobwebs and other gothic iconography, such as candelabras.
Overall, Who Wants to Kill Jessie? is an enjoyably anarchic romp that’s well ahead of its time and packed full of clever ideas on top of some sharp satire. It’s an absolute treat, from start to finish.
Film: 
Who Wants to Kill Jessie? is out now on region-free Blu-ray, released by Second Run. The transfer shows some flecks/dirt but, due to the special effects processes used, these might be on the original print. Regardless, it has a pleasing tonal range and impressive clarity. I’ve used screengrabs throughout this review to give you an idea of how it looks. The audio is strong too.
BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
• Who Wants to Kill Jessie? (Kdo chce zabít Jessii?, 1966) presented from a new HD transfer by the Czech National Film Archive.
• Directive (Direktiva, 1955): An early comic short film by Václav Vorlíček, presented from a new HD transfer.
• Those Crazy Czechs: A new and expansive video essay by film historian Michael Brooke on crazy Czech comedies.
• A Projection Booth commentary with Mike White, Jim Laczkowski and Jonathan Owen.
• 24-page booklet with new writing on the film by author and Czech cinema expert Jonathan Owen.
• New English subtitle translation.
• Region Free (A/B/C) Blu-ray.
• World Premiere on Blu-ray.
The Projection Booth team provide a commentary. As usual, this is informative and entertaining. They analyse the film and discuss its merits, on top of offering some background information about those involved.
Michael Brooke provides a lengthy video essay about blázníve komedie (crazy comedies). This is excellent, describing the history of the genre whilst throwing in plenty of clips that have caused me to add numerous titles to my wishlist. Here’s hoping Second Run have some more up their sleeves. With this and Brooke’s similarly extensive look at Polish animation in Radiance’s recent ‘Essential Polish Animation’ set, the film historian has supplied a couple of my favourite extras of the year.
Also included is the short film Directive (a.k.a. Direktiva, 1955), which was directed by Vorlíček. It centres around a young man who’s pulled away from his honeymoon and the music concert he was due to perform in, due to a mysterious ‘directive’. The film is a surprisingly up-front satire of the machinations of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. It’s cleverly written and enjoyable.
The booklet contains a wonderfully informative essay by Jonathan Owen, which covers the careers of Vorlícek and Macourek before delving more deeply into Who Wants to Kill Jessie?
So, it’s another wonderful Czech release from Second Run. Fingers crossed they are planning to release some more blázníve komedie in the future, as I can’t get enough of them.
Disc/Package: