A tale of neighbourly teasing and how dangerous it is to leave a door off its hinges in the hallway.
Czech literature teacher Josef Tkaloun, who is past retirement age, realises one day that he no longer understands his pupils, and so he quits… dramatically. What he does not predict is that in doing this he will lose his sense of place in society.
A contemporary story from the lives of young people, students of a ski high school, who, in addition to their studies, are preparing for a career as active sports competitors.
A comedy about exchange of 12 apartments , which, its organizer, lawyer Radosta, rightly called Action Ball Lightning. To prepare, organize and execute the exchange of twelve apartments is a work worthy champions. Radosta, who was excellently played by Rudolf Hrušínský, solved all sudden difficulties and complications on the fly and with grace. To be sure that the on the D-day everything goes well he prepares a little rehearsal, which reveals many minor issues caused for example by wedding ordered to inappropriate term or hesitation of some participants. Last but not least a night exercise announced by drunk psychologist Knotků, creates a lot of confusion that nearly sabotaged the whole operation.
Tomás lives in a very small Czech town and is a nature lover and a birdwatcher. He struggles to keep the forests he loves clean and constantly fights his "archenemy" whose sister and Tomás's classmate is secretly in love with him.
A bitter comedy performed by Divadlo Viola about Ema Destinnová and success that is unforgivable in Bohemia. Four women who were once close to Ema Destinnová bear witness to the successes and downfalls of the "immortal singer," but above all to Czech envy and pettiness, which are apparently also immortal.
Christmas is approaching and with it comes moments of surprising events and unexpected encounters. For example, such as those experienced by two inseparable friends and bachelors. Saša is looking forward to finally enjoying life and also really forces Karel to go to entertainment venues. But everything changes by chance, because when Karel moves, he discovers that his first love Eva, whom he once lost due to his indecision, lives on the floor above. The meeting on Christmas Eve turns out to be fateful...
A Christmas comedy-fairy tale in which Prince Leopold and Princess Josephine defy fate by vowing never to marry. When a time-travel adventure to the future goes awry, they must fight for their lives and their kingdom, only to discover, as in all fairy tales, that destiny has other plans.
No Woman is allowed into Karlstejn Castle! Yet the enamoured Daniele Kolářová and the equally enamoured Jana Brejchová manage to spend one night in disguise in the Castle despite the strict royal ban.
A day before Christmas Eve, a young, inexperienced doctor starts his first night shift on his own. All of his more skilled colleagues have left to spend some time with their families. There are no signs which would indicate that this calm night will change into a struggle for not only a child's life, but also a professional and personal credentialing.
Loyalty, history and regret take center stage for university professor Pavel Josek, lauded for standing up to the communist regime when it counted most. But as a TV documentary starts to focus in on the facts of his past, new truths are uncovered which may threaten his reputation.
The Lavicka's, a Czech family from the city, rents a house in the country with the option to buy. However, old Mr Komarek seems reluctant to sell the house as they agreed.
The main characters are a young psychologist Doubravka and a village youth, Honza Macháček. He is a tractor driver who temporarily lost his driver's license in a crazy bet, so he now herds a cooperative herd of cows, she is at the cottage with her boy Boba, who is not very successful in studying medicine and is currently preparing for his remedial exams. Honza's immediacy, optimism and approach to life and work contrast sharply with the selfish, weak-willed and unbalanced Boba, and Doubravka increasingly realizes that her feelings for Boba have disappeared and that she actually loves Honza. The question is how her somewhat conservative family will view such a game.
Emigrants rarely do well abroad, which is why they often return to their homeland. At least, that's what the film The Poachers claims. But the long years of separation and different experiences create alienation, and the returnees lose touch with their loved ones. This is exactly what happens to the main character, who cannot understand the changes that the Czech village has undergone. Neither with his son nor with his wife can he find common ground. Although the director Hynek Bočan relies on expressive portrayal, the basic problem of the story remains its lifelessness.
A first part of a funny adventures of six years old Lucie and her two magic dolls.
An escort composed of three people transports a huge amount of new one-hundred crown banknotes in a special railway car. At the 196th kilometer, a village girl is waiting at the railway crossing and spots two men removing some packages from the track. The scene is immediately followed by the report of a gun and the unwanted witness is shot dead. Soon afterwards, on the 201st kilometer, the train explodes. Only one of the escorts Lenk (Radoslav Brzobohatý) survives the explosion, taken to hospital with serious injuries. Criminologist Major Kalas (Jirí Sovák) and the very young Second Lieutenant Karlícek (Jaromír Hanzlík) patiently gather facts, leads and testimonies.
A romantic story about Jakub, a student in the summer camp, and his teacher Klara.
The apartment in the old house is occupied by a large family: a couple with three daughters, one of whom lives here with her husband and child. The young people want their own apartment, while the mother, who is indiscriminately directing the whole family, wants to exchange the current apartment for a larger one. At the moment when the son-in-law wants to show the housing committee of the cooperative the apartment in the worst possible condition, the mother frantically cleans up the artificial mess, because at the same time more people are coming in to exchange it. The confusion reaches its peak...
This is the story of the Bohemian King, Přemysl Otakar II, and the forgotten pilgrim, Odorik, who was the first-ever European to set eyes on Tibet. This medieval road movie brings an unconventional view to these two great figures of Czech medieval history. While the character of Odorik, regarded as the “Bohemian Marco Polo,” is practically unknown to us, the Bohemian King Přemysl Otakar II is either demonized or dismissed by the traditional clichés of the “Iron and Golden King.” In a private conversational format, the film’s author gives us a glimpse of this medieval world, set nearly 700 years apart from our modern context. But nothing has been lost in terms of this world’s impact or relevance, for both Odorik and Přemysl have outlived their time. Their lives are surprisingly endearing and touch on many of our current feelings.
The television production captures the last decade of the life of the now world-renowned painter Karel Purkyně (1834 - 1868) and his struggle for the possibility of creative expression. After studying in Paris, he returns to Prague. He is not recognized, has no success and actually lives on the support of his father, the famous physiologist Jan Evangelista Purkyně. The only understanding he finds is in his admirer Maria, whom he marries. But he loses her too due to his emotional involvement with another woman. He dies too young and leaves behind a work whose artistic value will only be appreciated much later, at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Several generations living together leads to some curious situations. A crazy teenager, a retired orchid grower, a passionate handyman with disastrous results, a student at a university for seniors who still gets butterflies, an unemployed archaeologist, and other members of a fairly normal yet wonderfully wacky (crazy) family, enjoy gathering together at the table, where there is always room for more chairs...
A British citizen by the name of George Reiner (Jirí Sovák) arrives at Prague airport. He was once a Czech safe-breaker, and has now returned home after thirty years to steal twenty-dollar gold coins still kept in the safe at a private villa in Pilsen whose owner fled to the West.
Lt. Franta Slama is a top pilot in the Czech Air Force who is assigned to train a promising young flier, Karel Vojtisek, and they soon become friends. When Nazi Germany invades Czechoslovakia in 1939, they both reject the authority of their new leaders and escape to England where they join other Czech exiles in the RAF. While flying a mission over England, Karel crash lands and happens upon the farmhouse of Susan, a young woman whose husband is in the Navy. Karel soon falls head over heels for Susan but, while they enjoy a brief fling, in time Susan decides she prefers the company of the older and more worldly Franta. As Franta and Karel struggle to maintain their friendship despite their romantic rivalry.
A second part of a funny adventures of six years old Lucie and her two magic dolls.
The young Prince Charles (Jaromír Hanzlík), the future King of his country Charles IV, is being educated at the French court in the company of his fiancée Blanche (Daniela Kolárová). One day he receives a summons from his father John of Luxembourg (Milos Kopecký) in Italy. He leaves for Italy accompanied by a deputation from Bohemia. On the way the prince's company fights a battle with armed Milanese against heavy odds. Thanks to Charles's perspicacity, the prince's almost naked soldiers win through. In Lucca in Italy Charles joins his father, and here he experiences an amorous adventure and escapes from the traps laid by the Italian rebels.
Three lifelong friends - Irena, who dreams of owning her own home; Marta, a pharmacist yearning to host a radio show; and Alex, who seeks a genuine relationship but becomes entangled with her charismatic, much-older boss - support one another through bold schemes to outwit romantic obstacles.
The first part of a loose trilogy about the travails of two orphaned siblings, thirteen-year-old Alenka and twenty-three-year-old Zbyněk, is based on the peculiar situation of a family in which the siblings must replace each other's parents. The brother would like to get married, but is prevented by his sister, who is jealous of everything around him. So he brings his girlfriend Katherine, whom he likes, to the flat as a lodger...
A family purchases a home robot designed to look like a grandmum. Their neighbours immediately buy a more expensivve model as the two families always try to up the other one. Both grandmums start to "terorize" their families because they were set up to ensure the mums exercise, the kids study etc. Apart from that they start causing problems to the other family ... cut ropes with hanging clothes, pierced tires, etc. Once they get to killing each other family's pets the parents get really worried about the safety of their kids. The grannys later destroy each other while fighting and the families decide that they'll be better off without any robots. (It's some time since I saw this so the details may be off.) Mainly thanks to the design of the robots it's rather a comedy than a horror. Unless you are ten. And a rather good comedy!
A loose continuation of the production of The Fiery Women. The souls of the witches Marta and Magdalena, burned in the 17th century, enter the bodies of two members of a group of antique thieves. Marta is now an expert in antiques, and Magdalena, to her horror, the body of a young man from an antique shop. In addition to the swindles - exchanging for imitations - the group is preparing to steal a valuable painting from a museum. Its employee Boženka is supposed to exchange it for a copy. In the middle of the action, a gas explosion occurs in the museum, and our women come to the bodies. It takes them quite a while to realize that they have fallen into their clutches...
The second part of the free comedy cycle about the orphaned siblings Alice and Zbyněk Kučero further develops Zbyněk's relationship with Kateřina, the "lodger" from the previous comedy. After all is revealed and Alice has given her "blessing" to their relationship, she begins to consider the possibility that after Zbynek's wedding, Kate's parents will enter her life. What will they be like? A curious Alice goes "exploring" just as Zbynek starts to introduce his future mother-in-law and father-in-law...
A worker steals bits and pieces of building materials from work to construct a new home for himself and his girlfriend. When he discovers that she’s having an affair with his boss, he devises one elaborate plot after another to murder the rival, each time with pathetic results.
Original staging of an opera composed based on William Shakespeare's comedy "The Merry Wives of Windsor".
A story of Eliska and her daughter, starting a new life in a remote house with the 'father away on business', as the mother claims. After the lie is disclosed, their relationship begins to wither. At that time, the mythical Noonday Witch begins to materialize. She is coming closer and closer and the question is poised: is the danger real or is it all in the mother's crumbling head?
The time is 1945-46. 10 year old Eda and his friend Tonda live in a small village outside Prague. In school, their class is so wild and indisciplined that their teacher quits and is replaced by the militant Igor Hnidzo. He is very strict – but also very fair. His weakness though, is his interest in young women.
The life story of Blessed Zdislava of Lemberk, about whom legends rather than sparse historical references tell us that she was a deeply religious woman with healing powers who devoted herself entirely to the humble service of her sick and suffering neighbors.
The story of an unhappy, childless princess, her loving husband and the poor villagers threatened by a terrible disease, who finally received help from above.
A section of the life of George of Poděbrady from his coronation to his death (1458–1471), creating a portrait of a remarkable monarch whose name shone as a symbol of Czech statehood, as a symbol of a victorious military leader and a prudent statesman; a powerful, complex and contradictory personality in the midst of a very dramatic fifteenth century. During thirteen years of independent rule, he wanted to defend with all his might what had been won by the Hussites; he wanted to defend it even in a time and environment that, on the contrary, wanted to settle accounts with the Hussites. It was during this tense time that Poděbrady's idea of creating an association of monarchs who would resolve conflicts through agreements and treaties, and not through war, arose. Even as a father, he made a sacrifice for his beloved country when he did not hand over the crown of the Czech king to his son, but to the Polish king Vladislav, the "Prince of Peace".
Zbyněk and Kateřina have become husband and wife, and Alenka is a beautiful young lady. Mothers and fathers know best how difficult this period in a family's life begins. The young lady begins to discover a hitherto unknown world in which former unbearable boys turn into quite tolerable young men. However, most of them have qualities that do not seem entirely ideal to their parents. If Zbyněk is a brother with the duties of a father, then with Alenka's adulthood he stands on the threshold of worries that will really confuse him...
In the 1980s, a number of films were made about teenagers. At first they dealt with the confusing search for life orientation, the difficult entry into adult life - and gradually the interest shifted to delinquent youth. This film charts the conditions in a dehumanised housing estate, where youths, out of boredom, gather into gangs that wander aimlessly, humiliate passers-by, and attack the defenceless. He discovers that parents have too little time for these children, that their actions are downplayed until tragedy strikes.
Autumn 1944. A doctor is accused in the collaboration with the Nazis and found guilty...
A computer programmer and his son are going out of the city for vacation.
In 1972, Czechoslovak Television recorded a performance by the Vinohrady Theatre, which was very well received. Moliere's comedy The Miser was staged on a turntable, but in period costumes and scenery, without any hint of updating, in a traditional translation. However, it was modern and contemporary mainly thanks to the stage direction of Jaroslav Dudek and the excellent acting performances of the main actors, led by Miloš Kopecký in the role of Harpagon. His civil speech, which was not devoid of majesty, anger, imperiousness, dislike and lack of feeling towards those closest to him, was supported by the equally precise performance of Jaromír Hanzlík and Daniela Kolářová in the roles of his children, Jiřina Bohdalová as the matchmaker, and the other actors. The comedy in their performance is timeless and will delight lovers of classical theatre even today.
Autumn 1988. Renata is studying journalism. She lives with her jealous boyfriend Standa, whom she occasionally cheats on. She edits the school magazine and is perhaps a little more daring than the others, mainly because she doesn't want to be the daughter of her father, a bigwig at the Ministry of the Interior. But the situation is getting out of her hands—Renata's anti-regime mini-activities and her romance with dissident Holý are getting the attention of the STB. Her dad is worried about his career and maybe even convinced that he should disinherit her. Her relationship with Standa is getting complicated.
Several retired women have been attacked in their apartments by an unknown man. None of them have been raped or killed yet, but the perpetrator's brutality is increasing with each case. The attacks always occur at the same time, on Thursday afternoons. The violence is followed by robbery, with money and jewelry disappearing. At the intercession of a former colleague, Major Bohuslav, who has been temporarily reassigned to the police archives because he has recently been dealing with his difficult family problems with alcohol, is put in charge of the case. Bohuslav sees this case as his last chance. He successfully solves the complicated web of family and "business" relationships, in which, as it initially appears, the murder was committed by a man who was recently buried, in cooperation with Captain Mazancová.
The story of a teacher, a famous actress, and her students set against the backdrop of the harsh normalization period, a time when, after the Soviet occupation, most people tried to survive in the gray zone, and only a handful of brave souls were willing to risk their positions in the fight against the regime.
Four old friends decide to shake up their unhappy, monotonous lives with a friendly bet and set off a series of unexpected events.
A few weeks in the life of the family of an attractive woman, the TV presenter Magda, her second husband and her teenage son. Magda is a lively, energetic woman, not for nothing is she called "the boss" at home. Besides her profession, she handles other problems with aplomb. Her dream is to finally move from her small apartment to her self-built villa on the river and to make it by Christmas Eve. But everything is unpredictable and sometimes life finds its own ways.
Second-rate writer Marton spends his not-yet-advanced old age in a luxurious retirement home. Apart from his grandson, who lives somewhere in Australia, he has no one else in the world. His wife left him long ago, but he cannot forget her. He feels he cannot bear the empty, monotonous life among equally abandoned people. He confides in his diary that he will commit suicide in the coming days. But then new guests arrive—the beautiful Mrs. Rouvrová and her disabled husband. A spark quickly ignites between Marton and Mrs. Rouvrová, and suicide is forgotten. But mysterious deaths begin to occur in the home, and soon there is no doubt that they are murders. Marton must ultimately suspect his late love, Mrs. Rouvrová...
Two half-siblings Jana and Miroslav are ineffectually trying to escape their mutual attraction and break free from their fatal relationship. Two time levels, presence and 1970s, inter-mesh in the film.
Even the best of friends can fall apart, often all it takes is a minor misunderstanding. That's exactly what happened to two village friends, children finishing elementary school, between whom hostility and suspicion suddenly set in. The mosaic-like plot contains a number of humorous observations, but overall it distances itself from any ambition to deeply affect the mentality of adolescents, much less the countryside.
After her parents' divorce, Petra lives in her mother's new harmonious family in a small town. However, she feels that she was cheated of a lot when she was unable to spend two years in Cuba with her own father. Therefore, she welcomes her father's offer to move to Prague with him. She is especially attracted by his promise to help her get into art school. However, she misses the warm family atmosphere in Prague very much, even though her father's new wife tries to understand her. Although her father provided for her materially, he did not really care for her. Petra's crisis is compounded by a negative opinion from an expert about her artistic talent...
A comedy set in a circus setting. Artist Ivan Brabec visits the variety artist Bellinzon to ask for the hand of his daughter Dana. However, the old man throws him out because he promised his daughter's hand to the son of his old friend, a Hungarian magician. Moreover, he flaunts circus tradition and his family. But Brabec complains to the stagehand Šíša, who reveals a secret to him. Bellinzon does not actually come from a respected family of circus performers and his name is not even Bellinzon, but Kudláček...
The aging variety artist Bellinzon is proud of his daughter and son-in-law, who are following in his footsteps and are enjoying success abroad. However, he himself no longer performs artistic acts and receives a salary from his former employer without actually working for him. But that is about to change. Deputy Markvart threatens to fire him if he does not rehearse a new variety act. Bellinzon decides to perform a musical act, even though he cannot play anything...
Who would have thought that when the border mountain in King Florinda's kingdom was razed to the ground so that it would not block the sun, the echo would be lost. And a senseless war was to be fought over the lost echo. And the fact that it did not take place in the end was due to the clever and brave princess Bianca. Instead, several weddings took place at once, and the echo was taken care of by the babies born to the young couples.
Since childhood, the young prince—along with his sister Bela—has listened to his nanny's stories about the Apple Tree Maiden. He hears the words of an old ballad about how the deep forest hides the ruins of a fortress where a nobleman once lived with his son and daughter. They lived there happily until the father brought home a new wife, a witch who destroyed everything and cursed the children into the form of apples on a withering apple tree. Only pure love—and only on All Saints' Day—can free the unfortunate siblings and restore their human form. And now, as an adult, the prince searches for his dream—the Apple Tree Maiden—during his endless wanderings through the forest.
A comedy about a quirky tour guide and two women who want to experience true love in their lives.
An astronomer, wooing the hand of King John's daughter, builds a royal puppet. King John considers it blasphemy, but when a puppet is shot and killed in an assassination attempt by an evil prince from a neighboring kingdom instead of King John, nothing stands in the way of the astronomer and Princess Korunca.
The young shoemaker Drobínek knows how to repair shoes well and loves Mančinka. But because he lacks self-confidence, he cannot confess his love to her, and he cannot defend himself against the tricks of his neighbors. Until a magical grandfather intervenes in his life. In the end, however, it turns out that Drobínek can do without magic and spells, he learns to rely on himself and cope with everything.
A well-known writer now aged 75 is aware of his increasing age and the risk that his literary style will grow worn. His everyday existence is enlivened by characters from his stories, who tend to enter reality in unexpected ways, at various stages of completeness and with all kinds of strange demands.
From the behavior, discourse, and appearance of individual actors, Vachek composes, in the form of a mosaic, a broad and many-layered film-argument about Czechoslovak democracy in the period of its rebirth, all administered with the director’s inimitable point of view.
In this movie, TV sets are full of life. If a person is in TV (e.g. because it was filmed on the street) it has a double that's right in the TV set. This double needs energy from the true character to survive. Each time, the real human watches TV, his Double will pull life energy from him. So there's a mysterious Death-serial. Many persons die in front of their TV set and nobody knows why. Olda, the main character, is one of the persons, that get more and more weak. He is near death, till Fisarek, the natural healer appears. He teaches Olda how he can resist this magic force and how he can fight it.