In modern-day Prague, a horny middle-aged man in town for business is picked up by a beauty who alternately teases and rejects him while telling three macabre stories. In the first, a medieval aristocrat orders a rabbi to create a golem (a living man of clay), though a mysterious young woman may be the greater threat. Second, a vain, faithless18th-century noblewoman gets otherworldly comeuppance for the many men she's ruined. Finally, another beautiful woman poisons rich men to rob them--a story told in comic pantomime, with sung voiceover narration.
These are all ostensibly horror tales, but Eastern European wasn't really interested in that genre until later, so the approach is more that of whimsical moral fables on the macabre side. The tone is closer to Western European sex-comedy omnibuses of the period than their horror equivalents--but as with graphic horror, sexuality was also kept pretty well reined-in by Soviet bloc censors at the time. So while handsome and diverting, this movie has an almost apologetic, just-kidding feel, willing neither to embrace its horror or sexual aspects (or horror-of-sex aspects) in any vivid fashion.
The second second is probably the most stylish, but none of them sport the kind of bold directorial personality that compendiums like this benefit from. They're also somewhat hobbled by each (including the framing device, which the only part in B&W) having the same "Gullible fool destroyed by wicked temptress" gist, and there is little real variation (let alone depth) in the characterizations.
Overall, a watchable curiosity, but hardly any neglected classic, even by the often-forgiving standards of fantasy cinema.
These are all ostensibly horror tales, but Eastern European wasn't really interested in that genre until later, so the approach is more that of whimsical moral fables on the macabre side. The tone is closer to Western European sex-comedy omnibuses of the period than their horror equivalents--but as with graphic horror, sexuality was also kept pretty well reined-in by Soviet bloc censors at the time. So while handsome and diverting, this movie has an almost apologetic, just-kidding feel, willing neither to embrace its horror or sexual aspects (or horror-of-sex aspects) in any vivid fashion.
The second second is probably the most stylish, but none of them sport the kind of bold directorial personality that compendiums like this benefit from. They're also somewhat hobbled by each (including the framing device, which the only part in B&W) having the same "Gullible fool destroyed by wicked temptress" gist, and there is little real variation (let alone depth) in the characterizations.
Overall, a watchable curiosity, but hardly any neglected classic, even by the often-forgiving standards of fantasy cinema.
