Polish-Soviet co-production directed by Marek Piestrak whom artists called "the Polish Ed Wood".
The film refers explicitly to American “new adventure” cinema, in particular to the character of Indiana Jones.
The war in Indochina. The pilot Bernard Traven finds himself in a Buddhist temple from where he steals a mysterious casket. Thirty years later, Traven turns to the Polish professor, Jan Tarnas, with a proposal of cooperation. The scientist reads the manuscript which hides a map to the Mythical Valley of Might and Power. Traven and Tarnas accompanied by journalist Christine overcome numerous obstacles and reach the chamber concealing a sarcophagus with the body of an alien and a mysterious urn. Traven betrays his comrades. Soon he dies and the urn falls into the hands of representatives of a secret organization. An attempt to examine the object which originates from space ends in disaster. Tarnas wakes up in his flat. Everything he experienced seems like a dream...
“The Curse of the Snake Valley” was a box-office success: about 1 million viewers saw the film in Poland and as many as 25 million in the USSR.
Marek Piestrak’s film became a classic work of art primarily thanks to its faults. Today, it appears on almost every list of "movies so bad that they’re good" and is still a source of great entertainment.
The name of the award currently given to the worst Polish films comes from the title "The Curse of the Snake Valley".
The screenplay is based on the story by Robert Stratton "The Hobby of Dr. Traven”. This was the pseudonym of Wieslaw Górnicki, known primarily as the author of the famous speech delivered by Wojciech Jaruzelski, in connection with the announcement of martial law.
Excerpt from the movie
