The
cinema world lost one of its most underrated innovators with the passing of
Czechoslovakian film director Vojtech Jasný last
November. Though new to modern
cinemagoers (myself included), Jasný was at the forefront of the Czech New Wave
movement which included such colorful, fantastical films as Valerie and Her
Week of Wonders, Daisies and The Fireman’s Bell. Ideologically speaking, the mid-50s cinema
movement opposed the strict social realism of straightforward dramas of the era
and utilized an absurdist, freeform approach to narrative storytelling.
Characterized by their tendency towards childlike playfulness
while sneakily evading the censorial nature of their country of origin, the
crux of the movement could be summed up by one film with Vojtech Jasný’s 1963
psychedelic family film When the Cat Comes. A film which seemed to capture the essence of
the Czech New Wave while still holding up as a delightful family entertainment
for children as well as adults, it’s a simple yet electrically charged fairy
tale about an imaginative teacher versus an uptight dictatorial schoolmaster keen
on stifling the classroom’s creative energies.
Enter a magic troupe which descends upon the small town whose
centerpiece involves a cat donned in sunglasses. Upon removal of the glasses, onlookers change
colors representing their true natures, with red for love, yellow for
unfaithfulness and blue for thievery. From
here, the film bursts into Pink Elephants on Parade flights of pantomime
with brightly colored human figures silhouetted against a black backdrop. The visual effect feels like a Disney film Fantasia
come to vivid, multicolored life!
At face value a childlike Mary Poppins type of fantasy
film loaded with magic and playful experimental technical innovation, When
the Cat Comes at heart is a penultimate Czech New Wave expression of
protest. With the censorial authoritarian
government represented by the fascistic schoolmaster at war with the imaginative
upending unleashed by the magic show, When the Cat Comes functions both
as a lab experiment as children’s movie as well as a loaded gun opposing the
strictness of authoritarian storytelling at the time.
Jasný, himself a former anti-Nazi resistance fighter who
gradually began distancing himself from the Communist party by the time When
the Cat Comes came about, was no stranger to the opposition being deployed
by the Czech New Wave movement and his film succeeds as both escapist
entertainment and political opposition to a system that stifled creativity. Not long after the film’s inception, Jasný
would exit the country amid a mass exodus of filmmakers tired of their creative
freedoms being trampled upon.
Key to the film’s success is the leading actor Jan Werich as the
storyteller/magician who upends the tightly knit small town. Sort of a Czech Wizard of Oz functioning
as the film’s narrator and gatekeeper, Werich imbues the film with a
grandfatherly charm that’s warm and welcoming.
Aiding his mischief making is Emília Vásáryová dressed in bright red as an
acrobatic performer with her trusty sunglasses wearing cat by her side, functioning
as ballerina and muse for the magician.
Visually the film plays brilliantly with color timing, thanks to
extraordinary cinematography by Jaroslav Kučera who photographs
in panoramic 35mm widescreen in a largely grayscale color palette. Maintaining an intentionally dull look
synonymous with the film’s thematic leanings, the film occasionally explodes
into a kaleidoscopic phantasmagoria of color sensory overload. The stark contrast between a
near-monochromatic look of normalcy versus the hyperkinetic visual tie-dye
being unleashed through magic is kind of a shock to see firsthand and is indeed
different on the eyes.
Sound wise, the film’s original orchestral score by Svatopluk Havelka
joins in on the visual antics with a wide range of sonic innovation ranging
from quiet pleasance to an overwrought fury of noise. Jazzy and, again, leaning towards Dumbo’s
Pink Elephants on Parade, the soundtrack intensifies in conjunction with
the visuals so you too like the characters in the film aren’t entirely sure
where to pinpoint where the dream begins and the fantasy ends.
Renamed and redubbed The Cassandra Cat for US distribution,
When the Cat Comes went on to win two top prizes at Cannes in 1963
including the Special Jury Prize and the Grand Prix Technique for its technical
innovation. In the years since, this firecracker
fountain of a movie sadly was largely forgotten save for television screenings
in dubbed as well as unrestored fullscreen bargain bin DVDs on public
domain.
Though a more extensive search on the internet will eventually
turn up an anamorphic widescreen DVD from the Czech Republic (thankfully
including English subtitles), When the Cat Comes clearly deserves a much
greater restorative treatment and grander following as it stands as a textbook
example of the creative heights reached by the Czech New Wave movement. Still visually impressive and for some the
quintessential Czech New Wave movie, When the Cat Comes is a delightful
entertainment and exciting visual feast long overdue for recognition of its
place in world cinema history.
--Andrew Kotwicki
