If Coppola sought to rip-off the success of 7th Voyage of Sinbad by retitling the very non-Arabian Nights tale Sadko, American International followed up with an even less defensible stretch. Sampo takes place in a fairy tale setting and follows the strife between an evil witch and a peaceful village; AIP sold it as The Day the Earth Froze, making it sound like the popular science fiction movies The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Day the Earth Caught Fire.

Sampo is from 1959 but is just as basic in its storytelling as was Ptushko's previous fantasy. The AIP version appears to have been trimmed by a couple of reels and uses narration by Marvin Miller to hold its story together. The hero this time has no particular distinction except being blonde and skilled in running river rapids while balanced on a log. The similarly golden-haired Annikki is straight out of the fairy tales. Wild animals come from the forest to cuddle with her and birds perch happily on her fingers. When she walks, flowers instantly grow out of her footprints, much to the ire of Louhi's gnome-like henchmen.

The film is darker and less lavish than Sadko but still has many impressive sets in the witch's polar kingdom under the Northern Lights, where trolls and wizards labor in underground workplaces. The theme has been updated from the Joe Stalin years ("I'm your leader, don't ask for favors") to the yearning for consumer goods in the Khruschev period. Everyone desires a Sampo, a kind of magical crystal heap that provides material goods (salt, flour, gold) by verbal command. One can't help but remember the Premier standing before some washing machines in NYC with Richard Nixon trying to be a friendly host; the message of Sampo seems to be that wishing for luxuries to make life easier is just asking for trouble and that people should stay in their little villages and stop grousing.

The witch Louhi wants a Sampo as well, and her kidnapping of Annikki puts into motion a series of fantastic events. The special effects are managed more through clever design than hi-tech means. Louhi sends one of her evil black cloaks into the skies, and it becomes a black sail on the boat that whisks Annikki away. Her blacksmith brother forges first a glowing scarlet horse to plow the field of snakes (a nice effect), and then a sturdy iron boat with a masthead that looks like Bullwinkle the Moose. The Sampo itself is a crystalline oven with animated colored glows dancing about it.

Even more interesting is a huge chamber where the imprisoned Annikki finds the four Winds held captive, bound up in canvas and heavy chains. They speak, imploring Annikki to set them free. It's a unique fantasy situation given a good treatment. Some effects are simply functional but the occasional scene can be very surprising. At one point a character leans up against a stone door and turns to stone as well. Lemminkäinen uses a magic sword to hack the door in two, and the person splits in two at the same time.

The source story is said to be Finnish and the movie is a Soviet-Finnish co-production. It has been cut down by quite a bit, so presuming much from it about the original is probably not wise. American fans are going to relate to the title through a parody version shown on Mystery Science Theater 3000, one of the funniest episodes ever. All the characters keep whining about the lack of a Sampo ... I just remember my kids thinking it was terrific. If the MST3K is how you relate to old movies, you'll have to supply your own jokes for this one.

Retromedia's double bill of The Magic Voyage of Sinbad and The Day the Earth Froze is a good encoding of good transfers of what appear to be original materials in good condition. It's not going to substitute for seeing the originals, but fans of bizarro import mutations of the kind usually available only as gray-market tapes, are going to be pleased.

The cover art duplicates the key poster for Magic Voyage that puts Sadko in an Arabian Nights costume and gives the Phoenix bird a drastically altered plunging neckline. Sorry, but in the movie the humanoid buzzard doesn't have breasts.

On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,
The Magic Voyage of Sinbad & The Day the Earth Froze rates:
Movies: Good
Video: Good -
Sound: Excellent
Supplements: Stills, artwork
Packaging: Keep case
Reviewed: February 12, 2005