NinadeL

The creation of the Third Republic brought with it a number of products of sub-creative groups to the State Film. He Was a Czech Musician is the work of the Otakar Vávra/Karel Feix leading tandem. I am pointing out the product, not the art film or perhaps the announced drama. The film was based on Kubín's short story and was formally directed well by František Čáp, who made his interesting debut in Czech cinema together with Václav Krška in 1939. In other respects, the film is very aspiring, but all the less interesting and engrossing, which is a bit puzzling in the context of its attempt at a few dramatic highlights with overblown performances. One mistake is the casting of František Miška in the lead role, who only proved that he is a worse successor to Antonín Novotný - who was nice to look at in the years 1932-1941 but did not reach any peak as an actor. The camera work of Václav Huňka is decent but he did not really become another Vích or Blažek during the subsequent years. As an actor, Ludmila Vostrčilová achieved some interesting positions, and minimal brilliance was afforded to the classic episodic actors of yesteryear Ella Nollová or Alois Dvorský. Zvonimir Rogoz is rather alienating in the role of the principal, who the last of the Mohicans recalls the real glory of Czech cinema of the previous years. The new faces soon included Jiřina Bohdalová, who was reborn from a child to a young lady as an extra. After 1955, her career went up steeply.

A weathered grotesque in Lada's guise. In the end, I do acknowledge some comedic (and Charleston) elements, and I appreciate the continuation of the poetics of Playing with the Devil and Darbujan and Pandrhola, which nowadays only resembles the long-forgotten Barrandov invention. Fortunately, it later inspired a television production before it was forgotten altogether. The story is lavish to the point of woe, but the cast is very plump. Besides the color of the town, which so perfectly refers to Verne's Zeman-type books, the film features a whole series of unexpected loving couples. Hlaváčová/Kostka, Bek/Thielová (popular since Florenc 13:30) and Bohdalová/Brodský. Fialová, Effa, and Hrušínský are again absolutely consummate extremists and playfully outshine Sovák in the lead role in their episodes. Fialová with a rifle, Effa and Hrušínský in religious garb. All in all, Florián is one of those films that doesn't need to be suppressed so much on TV screens today.

Michaela Pavlátová will probably always remain the director of Faithless Games. Where there is nothing, there is also nothing for death to take. Mádl just repeats his regular awkwardness and Martha repeats her aimless would-be rebelliousness from The Good Neighborhood. As a complement to the ancient tragedy of the big city, Novotný, Dolanský, Martha's mother, Babčáková, and other fine contemporary artists roam herein.

The whole Princesses Fantaghiró series interestingly follows the tradition of co-production projects for children and youth, which arose, traditionally before the revolution, from the connection with West and East Germans. Officially, it is a TV project of the Italian company Reteitalia, but with so much generous help from Czech filmmakers and locations that it is almost a co-production. Twenty Czech faces can be found in both minor and major roles, with the royal court based, of course, in Bouzov. The opening story, The Cave of the Golden Rose, is an enjoyable fantasy tale starring the luscious Alessandra Martines playing her princess as brave, beautiful, proud, and wise. Her character Fantaghiró is both loving and vulnerable, making her the perfect protagonist.

After this fiasco, I'm going to pretend Machatý's Hollywood career doesn't exist. What was that? Detective noir? Maybe only Ed Wood would do. I suffer from the fact that this is the result of the rape of Machatý's career in Hollywood. Hjůga from Prague is the only thing that didn't hurt my eyes and ears. I simply can't accept such lax shadow play, and that there is zero atmosphere... absolutely everything failed here, including the rear projection and absolutely basic makeup. It’s terrible, given what Gustav has been through. I believe that only Maria Ray could make it better. And she'd be fine as Dr. Anderson.

The truly quaint Lubitsch. This is a film that is far removed from the classic idea of his, Henna's, and Emil's work. The whole thing is just a series of incredibly crude humor to the point where splinters can't fly through the air. On the other hand, under the influence of mass projection, even this can be appreciated with boisterous laughter, with or without Danish subtitles. I just marvel at the variation in the acting ability of the mother of German cinema, who managed to play the sisters, Liesl and Gretel, who are so very different from each other. If Jannings had already been appreciated as a master of disguise, now film history is waiting for her.

A charming miniature that has part of the poetics of the films Of Things Supernatural and Florenc 13:30. The connection with these films is not only indicated by the numerous identical actors and their similar creations (starting with Kopecký and ending with Bohdalová in almost the same costume from her trip to Karlovy Vary), but especially by the clever humor and the distinctive signs of the progressive thaw. That is why nationalization may catch us by surprise, but the moonlighting job will solve everything. Indeed, the same is true today.

A slightly better fairy tale than The Bear and the Ghosts, but it is still a small shadow of other Czech fairy tales. If it's going to be the same theme, I prefer a puppet film.

Together with the fairy tale How Franta Learnt to Fear, The Bear and the Ghosts is a shadow of the previous Barrandov fairy tales. The runtime is minimal, while the sets entirely recycle other Czech fairytales. It’s too conspicuous and overly unnecessary.

An absolutely fabulous Čapek triptych. The retro feel was preserved, and even the plethora of new faces doesn't contradict it. Most of all I admire the middle story with Oldřich Nový and Jaroslav Marvan, who portrayed their art to perfection and especially their experience from the past years. Pešek's first story is also tender and Mild's final story is a solid horror. The only negligible shadow is the repetition of some actors in several stories (Bohdalová, Kopecký...).