Directed by:
Karel SteklýScreenplay:
Karel SteklýCinematography:
František UldrichComposer:
Jaromír KlempířCast:
Svatopluk Matyáš, Helga Čočková, Oldo Hlaváček, Helena Blehárová, Miroslav Homola, Zdena Hadrbolcová, Eduard Dubský, Jiří Lír, Slávka Budínová (more)Plots(1)
Like other normalizing crazy-comedies, Hroch is also situated in an unknown country, where supernatural phenomena take place. Here, a hippopotamus in the zoo swallows an official called Hroch (Hippo), who lives in the animal's abdominal cavity and communicates with the outside. The obscure and purposeful flop contains many allusions to the events of 1968 and, despite a cautiously lukewarm reception by critics at the time, it earned director Karel Steklý the National Artist title. It perfectly describes the stifling greyness of the incipient normalization and the creative impotence of an otherwise quite skilled director. It is probably the most bizarre cinematic attempt to demonstrate servility to the new regime - so bad that the Febiofest anti-prize for Worst Film of the Year was named after it. (Finále Plzeň)
(more)Cast
Dagmar Nováková
Best movies:
Lovers in the Year One (1973)
Operation Bororo (1972)
The Hippo (1973)
Václav Luks
Czechoslovakia
Best movies:
Give the Devil His Due (1984)
Pilát Pontský, onoho dne (1991) (TV movie)
Popel a hvězdy (1990) (TV movie)
Renata Bauerová
Best movies:
A Ridiculous Gentleman (1969)
Setkání v červenci (1978)
Hodíme se k sobě, miláčku...? (1974)
Jiří Kasík
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Lemonade Joe (1964)
The Snowdrop Festival (1983)
Happy End (1967)
Milan Kindl
Czechoslovakia
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Happy End (1967)
Four Murders Are Enough, Darling (1970)
The Devil's Trap (1961)
Otakar Rademacher
Czechoslovakia
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Witchhammer (1969)
Lemonade Joe (1964)
Four Murders Are Enough, Darling (1970)
Zdeněk Srstka
Czechoslovakia
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Amadeus (1984)
Marecek, Pass Me the Pen! (1976)
Lemonade Joe (1964)
Jaroslav Tomsa
Czechoslovakia
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My Sweet Little Village (1985)
Jára Cimrman Lying, Sleeping (1983)
Lemonade Joe (1964)
Petr Kučera
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Slunečná (2020) (series)
Za volantem nepřítel (1974)
The Hippo (1973)
Olga Fleischerová
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Morgiana (1972)
Beauty and the Beast (1978)
Day for My Love (1976)
Lubomír Mohyla
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Green Gold (1964)
Beauty and the Beast (1978)
If a Thousand Clarinets (1964)
Václav Štádler
Czechoslovakia
Best movies:
The Incredibly Sad Princess (1968)
O štěstí a kráse (1986) (TV movie)
Operation Bororo (1972)
Václav Zahradník
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Best movies:
The Hippo (1973)
Vladimír Brož
Best movies:
Let Him Face the Music! (1977)
Lov na mamuta (1964)
The Hippo (1973)
Miloslav Bureš
Best movies:
If a Thousand Clarinets (1964)
Komedie s Klikou (1964)
The Hippo (1973)
Petr Fleischer
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Four Murders Are Enough, Darling (1970)
Love Between the Raindrops (1979)
The Hippo (1973)
Emanuel Hrdina
Best movies:
Pražské blues (1963)
The Hippo (1973)
Otto Kotýnek
Best movies:
Drahé tety a já (1974)
Bylo čtvrt a bude půl (1968)
Let Him Face the Music! (1977)
Petr Smolík
Best movies:
Partyzánská stezka (1959)
Rytmus 1934 (1980)
The Hippo (1973)
Jaroslav Tichý
Czechoslovakia
Best movies:
Stíhán a podezřelý (1978)
Čas pracuje pro vraha (1979)
The Hippo (1973)