Dívka na koštěti (The Girl on the Broomstick). 1971. Czechoslovakia. Directed by Václav Vorlíček. Screenplay by Vorlíček, Hermína Franková, Miloš Macourek. With Petra Černocká, Jan Hrušínský, Jan Kraus. 4K digitization by Národní filmový archiv; courtesy Národní filmový archiv. In Czech; English subtitles. 76 min.
A teenage witch slips out of fairy-tale land into contemporary Czechoslovakia in this deliriously plastic, candy-colored comedic predecessor to Sabrina the Teenage Witch. By 1972, director Václav Vorlíček had already made two classic films from scripts by Miloš Macourek and had proven himself a good fit for the normalization authorities; allegedly he would later be registered as a collaborator with the secret police. For all its wonders, The Girl on the Broomstick does represent a domestication of the energies of the New Wave, which Vorlíček repackages here as politically safe entertainment. And yet it remains a classic, overflowing with odd, off-kilter comedy and delightful performances, not least by the indelible Vladimír Menšík. Its loungey, anarchic rhythms today seem closer to Frank Tashlin and Jerry Lewis than to anything else produced in Czechoslovakia, then or now.