Who Wants to Kill Jessie?

This odd obscurity, made in 1966 during the height of Czechoslovakia's cinematic renaissance, delivers an openhanded slap at sci-fi, superheroes, and nagging wives. A scientist uses her husband as a guinea pig to test a new drug that allows dreams to be projected on a television screen. But the drug works too well and the dreams come to full life—here, in the person of the Barbarella-inspired superhero Jessie (Playboy cover girl Olga Schoberova) and her male adversaries: a violent cowboy and a Superman knockoff who are trying to steal Jessie's anti-gravity gloves. Jessie not only has to deal with these miscreants, but she also makes a mess of things by falling in love with the scientist's husband. Who Wants to Kill Jessie? is ultimately both hip and square: the outlandish production design and costuming will raise nostalgic guffaws from those who recall 1960s pop culture, but Vaclav Vorlicek's direction is often too lethargic and stodgy to truly be engaging and the film often feels like an Iron Curtain rip-off of the Batman TV series—except that the arch humor seems lost in translation and all that remains are strange people in silly costumes chasing each other for no clear purpose. Fans of camp comedy may appreciate this release but this is optional, overall. DVD extras include a booklet. (P. Hall)