Saxana (Petra Cernocká) is an enthusiastic but inept pupil at the academy for young witches where all her spells seem to go disastrously awry. So she ends up held back at school for three-hundred years. Understandably bored, Saxana sneaks a peak at the Magician's Lexicon where she uncovers a spell that will enable her to visit the mortal world for forty-eight hours in the guise of an owl. It is in this form that she enters the life of Johnny, a schoolboy who is somewhat startled to say the least when his new-found captive owl transforms into a pretty girl. In search of fun and a greater understanding of the human world, Saxana accompanies Johnny to school whereupon her naivety and magic unleash all kinds of mischief.
There is a proud tradition of sexy witch comedies across international cinema even though whether it is Kim Novak putting a spell on James Stewart in Bell Book and Candle (1958), Nicole Kidman failing to match the charm of the original sitcom in the big screen adaptation of Bewitched (2005), Sandra Bullock and Kidman again (witch movies don't seem to agree with Nicole) whingeing their way through the cod-feminist Practical Magic (1998) or even Vanessa Paradis vamping it up in the French cult effort A Witch in Love (1997), they all pale by comparison with René Clair's peerless I Married a Witch (1942) starring the spellbinding Veronica Lake. A charming Czechoslovakian fantasy, The Girl on the Broomstick proved an enduring family favourite in its homeland on the strength of a script rife with ghoulish gags and an appealingly kitsch cartoon sensibility in line with the sort of films Tim Burton went on to make in Hollywood. The special effects have that appealing handmade quality and prove both eye-catching and accomplished with the depiction of Saxana's favourite trick (extending her left arm ten feet along the floor) particularly well realized. Only those unwilling to accept anything other than sterile CGI will have cause to complain.
The Girl on the Broomstick was among a slew of fantasy comedies made by Václav Vorlícek whose whimsical efforts amassed a small but devoted fanbase outside his native land, notably the ingenious Who Wants to Kill Jessie? (1966). Film critic Phil Hardy repeatedly praised Vorlícek as a subversive satirist throughout his Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction Films. Even so, for all Hardy's claims, there is little one could claim as satirical here. It is fairly un-ambitious, albeit beguiling, children's fare tonally similar to the likes of The Worst Witch (1986) or even the early Harry Potter films. Mounted much like a sitcom the humour stems from both Saxana's malfunctioning magical powers and Johnny's frantic attempts to hide her from his parents alongside the inevitable nosy neighbour. Johnny has his hands full given Saxana is no goody two-shoes and thinks nothing of bestowing his schoolteacher with a set of big buck teeth or later turning him into a wooden toy complete with detachable head. Far from malicious though, Saxana comes across as naive and easily led as her eventual quest for a "hag's ear" (the magic ingredient that will enable her to live happily in the human world without turning permanently into an owl) sees her fall in with three bad boys. These obnoxious youngsters manage to trick Saxana into transforming their teachers into rabbits they then sell (as food!) to their neighbour before imprisoning the witch in an asylum so they can steal her spellbook.
Deadpan performances add to the endearing air of weirdness and cute, curly-haired Petra Cernocká is an undeniably engaging lead but after a strong start the pace slackens. Whereas the witches' world is a wonderfully whimsical setting the film spends more time in the mundane realm where it doles out mixed messages, lambasting the general rottenness of human beings that lie, cheat and steal yet stressing the heroine's dream to settle down to a nice, quiet life in a humdrum town. Saxana has no concept of what love is and, as is often the way with these stories, it falls to dull but decent Johnny (who is called Peter in the liner notes!) to teach her although their supposed romance is muted to say the least. Forty years later Petra Cernocká returned as an older Saxana mentoring her like-named granddaughter in the live action-CGI animated hybrid Little Witch on a Broomstick (2011).
