Day The Earth Froze aka Sampo (1959)

Day The Earth Froze is an American redubbing (quite well done) and re-editing (not so subtle) of Finnish/Russian fairytale movie called Sampo.

Not only is the American version, at 65 minute duration, almost half an hour shorter than the original, but it also features phoney credits, suggesting that it is actually an American film with American actors.

Nevertheless, there is something quite charming about this dream-like, enchanted folktale of a village's running battle with the witch Louhi (Anna Orochko) for possession of the fabled Sampo, a magical mill that produces unending supplies of grain, salt and gold.

However, only the village's wizardy-blacksmith Ilmarinen (Ivan Voronov) can forge the Sampo and he cannot do this until his sweet and shy sister Annikki (Eve Kivi) has fallen in love.

Luckily she meets Lemminkäinen (Andris Oshin) and falls for him - just before Louhi kidnaps her to force her brother to make the Sampo for her.

There is much to-ing and fro-ing as Lemminkäinen and Ilmarinen strive to free Annikki (aided by a steel horse and boat that Ilmarinen forges), although this does mean Louhi ends up with Sampo.

But Lemminkäinen is not having any of this and decides to go back and steal it from the witch - under cover of mist.

However, Louhi isn't impressed and to get her revenge steals the sun. Yes, you read that right, she steals the sun - there's an incredible shot of her flying off with the sun tucked under her cape!

Thus the villagers have to rally together and go to the witch's land, but headman Väinämöinen (Urho Somersalmi) advises them that weapons will be no use against the magics of Louhi and her minions and tells them to take only a kantele (no giggling please, it's a Finnish zither).

Of course, there's a happy ending, and it makes an interesting twist on the 'love conquers all' cliché.

Lovely costuming and garish technicolour, combined with the bizarre fairytale logic of the plot, give Day The Earth Froze a hypnotic - almost soporific - quality. 

The key thing to remember is that this a folktale, not a stereotypical action-adventure, so aspects are going to seem weird (like a village having an immortal blacksmith with the power to manufacture pretty much anything - at one point he even tries to make a new sun!), but there's still an innocent verisimilitude about the world depicted.