The Devil's Mill (1949)
A barrel organ grinder meets the devil on a mysterious moonlit night in this haunted-house fable, which showcases Trnka’s atmospheric use of sound to conjure a macabre mood.
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With a poll coming up on IMDbs Classic Film board for the best movies of 1949,I started to search around for lesser-known animated flicks to view from the year,which led to me being happily caught by surprise,when a fellow IMDber told me about a Czech cartoon.The plot:Walking around the countryside,a man plays an instrument which annoys all of the animals and the people in the area.As night settles in,the man decides that he will spend the night in a disused mill.Before he has a chance to lay in bed at the mill,strange events start to take place.View on the film:Despite not featuring a single line of audio or subtitled dialogue,writer/director Jirí Trnka makes sure that the voice of the movie comes out loud & clear,with the 20 minute running time speeding pass as Trnka unwraps his enchanting Gothic folk tale world.For the distinctive appearance of the puppets,Trnka gives them a splendid,intimate stop-motion animation feel,with the man's face being immaculately detailed,and the old mill being packed with fascinating odds & ends as the devil turns the mill.