Prichozi z temnot (1921)
Article 5554 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-13-2018
Directed by Jan S. Kolar
Featuring Theodor Pistek, Anny Ondra, Josef Svab-Malostransky
Country: Czechoslovakia
What it is: Strange horror film

A landowner must find a way to protect his wife from two predators; one his neighbor and the other an ancestor of his who has gained eternal life with the help of an alchemist.

I found the plot of this movie very confusing, but for a very good reason; only forty minutes of this one hour movie are still extant, and given that some of the story is told through nested flashbacks, it doesn’t take too much footage to be missing before the plot thread is lost. Fortunately, things start to settle down a bit during the second half, and I was able to more or less follow it at that time. Visually, it’s an enjoyable movie, and certain of the plot elements bear a resemblance to the various mummy movies over the year, only without a shambling wrapped creature. Still, I don’t feel I can fully evaluate the movie without the missing footage, and though I found it interesting enough, the jury is out until a more complete version manifests itself.