This is a bit of an oddity of a true story about a Black American man who finds himself joining a Welsh mining community. Paul Robeson’s presence is strong here both in stature and voice, as the potential boon to the men’s choir is the catalyst for the community welcoming him into their fold. I have a lot of sympathy for mining towns where digging for coal is the only ‘good’ job available, but even eighty years ago, when there weren’t as many other options available, the work is ridiculously dangerous and difficult and questionably a win in the grand scale of things.

This is a harmless romantic comedy version of Cyrano de Bergerac. Steven Martin is his charming self and the story is earnest. I had a hard time believing in his interest in Daryl Hannah, nor her interest in Rick Rossovich. The best couple chemistry was between Martin and Shelley Duvall though there was no indication that either felt sexually towards the other. I did find the scenes with the fire department to be amusing. The British Columbia setting was beautiful. Kudos to the makeup department that devised a nose that looked ‘normal’ when looking at the front from afar, but was obviously extra long when in silhouette.  

Sadly this was the weakest of the three Karel Zeman films from the Criterion set I watched. After finding a fossil, a group of young boys decide to climb into a boat to travel back through time to see a live trilobite. The whole production feels like a lazy river ride where the live action humans float past stop motion dinosaurs and other animals, complete with the expected ‘oohs and ahhs’ from the riders. It’s cute in a way similar to a classic live-action Disney from the same era, but it’s nowhere near as fantastic as the previous two Zeman films I’ve watched.    

After watching The Fabulous Baron Munchausen, I was eagerly looking forward to this film though I didn’t think anything could top the creativity seen there. I was wrong. While they both utilize a mix of live action and animation styles to create a fantasy world, here it is used to create the illusion of a world that is a moving, breathing line engraving. Every single part of the visuals are committed to this vision. The costumes are bold in contrasting patterns of dark and light. Even the water and sky have line etched overlays to fit right into the setting. The story brings forth a world where technology is rapidly growing, with fanciful steam machines of all types being shown, and the greatest weapon ever invented is on the horizon. A super villain is willing to do whatever it takes to get his hands on it the moment the weapon is realized. While set in the Victorian age, it is a particularly poignant reflection in the post atomic bomb age.  

A young girl who spends her afternoons boxing with her brother decides she’d rather devote her energies to the dance team that practices in the same facility. Soon after her joining, girls in the troupe start experiencing seizures. These fits parallel the experiences of puberty itself. The older girls are the ones first inflicted. Each girls’ experience is different with some gleefully awaiting for their turn while others more reticent. Aside from these attacks, there is a deeper exploration of the changes that the main character experiences, expertly played by Royalty Hightower. She craves the female camaraderie, the control of her body, the group identity, and femininity. As she grows more comfortable in her new role, her confidence grows as does her smile.