THE HAMMER OF WITCHES (KLADIVO NA CARODEJNICE) Czech Literature in Czech Film

1680, Moravia simple peasant superstition is snowballed by all-powerful inquisitor Boblig into
a seemingly endless, horrific procession to the stake-but even honest men can blame themselves
for their cowardice (just as, of course, in later trials). Co-scripted by “New Wave” art director
Krumbachova from a novel based on actual court records from Ullersdorf and Sumperk, the culmination
of cagey veteran Otakar Vavra’s big comeback (in a career dating back to the first talkies),
even going his film SGhool students one better in creating here “a black mass of nudity, functionally
utilized”-Josef Skvorecky.