The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1978)

It is a performances centric movie

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

At first I was incredibly skeptical about this, but it turned out to be something really special.I read the the book at school - quite a lot of years ago. And as I remembered it, it was quite good. But what almost made me not watch it was the style of animation. It reminded me of South Park but just more old school and stiffer in the way it's animated. I thought this is not going do be interesting but it was the opposite. Especially the style of animation made its atmosphere and deepness. It creeped me out some times.The story is good. But what makes it is the way it's told. You see the main character become a grown-up in some ways and it's darkness and violent moments. One of the main feelings is despair in this movie.Its really hard to explain but this is really something unique as far as I know. The combination of animation, the story, the character development and music is just unique.Everybody should see this.

At first, when I watch this film online (subtitled), I had confuse the title for the poem version by German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe that inspired French composer Paul Dukas for his famous musical piece with the same title. But really, the film is based on a book called "The Satanic Mill" by a Otfried Preußler and the Sorbian folk tale upon which the book is based. I thought the cutout animation is really good, it's like the illustrations of some ancient book come to life. Why, The National Film Board of Canada used that technique for their 1991 animated short, inspired by the legends of the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest - "Lord of the Sky".Well anyway, the film is about Krabat, a beggar boy in early 18th century Lusatia, is lured to become an apprentice to an evil, one-eyed sorcerer. Together with a number of other boys, he works at the sorcerer's mill under slave-like conditions while learning black magic, such as guising himself as a raven and other animals. Every Christmas one of the boys has to face the master in a magical duel of life and death, where the boy never stands a chance because the master is the only person who is allowed to use his secret grimoire: "The Koraktor", or the "Force of Hell".One Easter while performing an annual ritual near a small village, Krabat meets a girl (whom he dubbed the "Kantorka" or "The girl who sings") and falls in love with her. But Krabat has to keep his romance secret in order to protect her. After witnessing his friends one after one being helplessly slaughtered by the master every Christmas, Krabat starts to sneak up at night to study the forbidden book. On the last page of the book, Krabat finds a phrase saying: "Love is stronger than any spell."That's all I could tell you folks, you will have to see the film for yourself how it ends. Overall, I enjoy this dark-fantasy film. And one thing I should tell you folks is that watching this film is my first glimpse at animation from Czechoslovakia.

I saw this movie twice in my youth. It played (both times) on Canada's French CBC channel-Radio Canada in the early 1980's. The film was shown on the (now defunct) Saturday matinée series Ciné-Famille . The film itself had been dubbed in French. To this day I can remember the film as being hauntingly beautiful, captivating, mesmerizing. Everything from the transfiguration of the Miller's disciples into Ravens, to the Master Disciple(s) having to build their own coffins before their final confrontation with the Miller. This film is a masterpiece thru and thru. Sure wish I could find a French or English copy of it. I saw it today on E-Bay, but it was the German version, no subtitles ($30 + US after shipping). I should still put a bid on it. Even a version in a foreign (to me) language is worth getting.

KRABAT is one of the great undiscovered classics of world animation. Told in a stunning style that resembles classic woodcuts (but moving!), the story centers on a young man who is forced into apprenticeship to an unspeakably evil sorceror. Not only is the film absolutely stunning visually, but it's also by turns genuinely frightening, wonderfully melancholy and finally redemptive. As talented a filmmaker as Karel Zeman was, this film stands apart from his other work. When will this gem be made available to western viewers?!