The Day the Earth Froze

Sampo......who can get that word out of their head??? It seems to be an infernal machine that makes gold, or salt, or flour, or something but whatever it does, everybody wants it and will go to any lengths to build one. This Scandanavian film has an unusual look to it but it appears that the print is faded, hence the washed out look. Or maybe it's because of all the snow and ice. But I must admit that I found it rather fascinating.

The lead actors play it pretty much without emotion except for the witch who is a total pain in the butt. It took me a while to figure out if it was a man or a woman; regardless he/she was irritating. It moves along pretty slowly and there are times when it is difficult to figure out exactly what is going on.....that may be due to the terrible dubbing. I hate dubbing.....give me sub-titles anytime.

The ending with the harps is insane. We should advise our military that harp music can be deadly and is a lot less messy than live ammunition. However, there is something rather endearing about this film that makes it worth watching. Of course, you need to see the MST3K version.... it is a lot more fun. Can you say Sampo?