Who Wants to Kill Jessie? (1966)

A really well made, clever film, 11 May 2020

I believe that Who Wants to Kill Jessie? may be the only Czechoslovakian comedy/sci-fi/fantasy film I’ve ever seen.  Who am I kidding - of course it is.  And to my surprise and delight, it’s a winner.  In the film, a research scientist, Dr Ruzenka Berankova, has developed a drug that can alter dreams.  The unknown side effect is that the dreams can leave the subject’s mind and end up in our reality.  In this case, Ruzenka’s husband, Dr Jindrich Beranek, has been dreaming about antigravity gloves that could help with a research problem he’s been having.  In his dream, however, the gloves are owned by a gorgeous blond woman, Jessie.  In the dream, she’s being chased by a Superman-like character and a cowboy who also want the gloves.  Jindrich takes Ruzenka’s drug and, viola, he wakes up to find Jessie in his bed with the two goons hot on her heels.  Much hilarity ensues.  

What an incredibly odd, absurd, and completely whacked-out film that somehow manages to work.  This is screwball comedy at its finest.  And unlike a lot of the other European comedies I’ve seen that I really can’t stand, Who Wants to Kill Jessie? remains consistently funny from start to finish.  The acting is much better than I expected.  The married scientists at the center of things, played by Dana Medricka and Jiri Sovak, are very good.  I’m not surprised to see that both had long careers.  Jessie is played by Olga Schoberova.  She fits the part of the dreamy (pun intended) Jessie perfectly.  Finally, I appreciate the way the movie blends the comic-book style dreams with real life.  I really got a kick out of the fact that the dream characters are silent, relying on speech clouds to get their thoughts across.  The funny bit is the way the other characters interact with the speech clouds.  Really clever stuff.  

If I were a much smarter person, I’m sure I could write at length on the underlying anti-communist messages found in Who Wants to Kill Jessie?  Because I’m not that smart, I’ll just say that it wasn’t lost on me.  The idea that you can do what you want to someone, but you can’t take away their dreams was loud and clear.

8/10