Ella Šárková

The 50th anniversary of the Barrandov studios was celebrated with a spectacular show: many directors and other important people gathered in the expensive decorations of the Variety Theatre auditorium (built for the Circus Humberto series). They smiled and showed well-deserved relaxation after a job well done in managing socialist cinema. Vladimir Sís interspersed this with excerpts from films, mainly his own and also a little of others who had worked on the "Hill of Dreams".

Two young returnees from the First World War face a difficult future because they cannot find work. One eventually finds a job as an electrician, the other breaks into the Social Democratic press, where he gets the chance to watch up close how the Social Democratic leadership deceives its members and enters the service of the ruling classes. And a newly-trained journalist solves the problem of whether he should also adapt to the corrupt environment...

A second part of a funny adventures of six years old Lucie and her two magic dolls.

A bachelor named Faun with a Don Juan complex, seized with a hypochondriac's fear of the ineluctable approach of death, enters a race against time's passage. Faun's sexual love is imbued with the narcissistic vanity of a self-satisfied bacchant who even towards old age can't manage to forgo his lifelong pose as an irresistable seducer of women. He desperately searches for meaning in superficial, fleeting sex.

This wacky musical comedy builds on absurd ideas, parodic humour and many variously subverted references to famous...

Early Days follows the early life of famous Czech writer Alois Jirásek. Jirásek had already developed his own view of the history of the Czech nation while he was at grammar school in Broumov. When he becomes the supply teach in Litomyšl, he has already written his first book and a number of poems. The local dignitaries await the arrival of the young writer in excited anticipation. Jirásek, however, is sickened by the empty patriotism from the depths of his soul and soon becomes disagreeable to the notables. The district sheriff tries to remove Jirásek from the school and drive him out of town. Unable to do this, the sheriff appoints a pro-Austrian headmaster who attempts to sabotage Jirásek. The students stand behind Jirásek , however, and discontent is not only felt in Litomyšl but throughout Bohemia.

Leopold Kohák married a rich widow a long time ago and now has nothing to do compared to his energetic wife. He's growing old and troubled by the fact that he betrayed his first love Emča and his beloved river Sázava where he spent his childhood and youth. A visit from an old friend Lebeda brings it all back to him. After a nervous breakdown Leopold secretly visits his home instead of going to the spa. A wandering tramp suggest Leopold should bathe in the magical waters of the Sázava, and slowly his youth returns to him.

Princess Snow White tries in vain to win the favor of the queen. The queen is too preoccupied with her beauty and regularly checks in the magic mirror whether she is still the most beautiful. When one day she discovers that Snow White is even more beautiful, she orders the huntsman to kill Snow White in the forest and bring her heart. The huntsman takes pity on Snow White and lets her go. The girl walks through the forest to a cave equipped with small furniture for seven people. Soon the dwarfs arrive and allow Snow White to hide in them and live there with them. The mirror reveals her hiding place to the queen. The queen goes to Snow White in disguise with a poisoned belt, but the dwarfs save the girl.

The idea of mystery unites the three debut stories - the original Bermuda Triangle with its mysterious phenomena has begun to shift and can be traced anywhere in the world, including Czech and Slovak territory. Here, too, unexplained shifts in space and time occur. This idea is supported by the aforementioned short stories, but the inventiveness of the subject matter and staging is very heavy-handed, and the film passed through the cinemas without much interest.

It is 1905. The police director gets Jindrich Legenda (Eduard Cupák) shadowed as, yet Legenda had served his sentence for a burglary, the jewels have not been found. Russian revolution encouraged also Czech workers to fight for their rights. Radical anarchists are followed by Legenda's friend Karel Wohryzek (Vladimír Mensík) who was forced to collaborate with the police as he was convicted of pornography distribution.

Silvestr Blažek loses his job, but he doesn't lose heart. He also courts the saleswoman Boženka Straková. The driver of the builder Herold, Karel Verner, is also interested in the girl. Boženka is the daughter of Narcis Straka, a man with a mysterious past. However, Herold's father-in-law Jakub Suldovský recognizes him as an old friend from Vienna, where they both loved the same woman....

The Voskovec and Werich duo play a peculiar pair - a clumsy coach driver and an equally clumsy traffic policeman, who both fall in love with a young actress. Although their ludicrous courtship does not work out, both buddies become successful revue comedians.

A young princess arrives at her estate. She is bored by the welcoming ceremony and is quite happy to hear about the rebellious miller who refused to come to the castle. He lives with his mother and ward Hanička in an old mill. The miller is exempt from work, but he is obliged, if the lordship requests it, to accompany her with a lantern to the forest castle. The princess likes the miller and therefore uses his right...

On the train to Prague, the bride-to-be Zuzana Vítová accidentally meets the clerk Dr. Karel Jánský. Upon arriving in Prague, it seems that Jánský follows the girl on her way from the station, but it turns out that the two of them have only a common journey. When Zuzana discovers that her fiancé Petr Klika is not at home and that she has lost the keys to his apartment, Dr. Jánský gallantly helps her and keeps her company until deep into the night...

The film, in individual episodes, captures the fate of Bedřich Smetana from 1856 until the end of his life, from his young years until the moment when, exhausted by human and artistic hardship, he sees the fulfillment of his great dream, the opening of the National Theatre.

The biographical film about the prematurely deceased violin virtuoso Josef Slavík takes place entirely like a haunting dream, in the mind of a feverish artist who remembers how he amazed Paganini himself with his playing.

The story of an old gentleman who had spent his life restoring antiques. As an art connoisseur, he planned to surround himself with old paintings, which he collected deliberately. But his passion for painting was not well understood by his petty bourgeois family, who saw his collection of paintings as nothing more than money uselessly invested. And they are looking forward to selling off their inheritance...

Thirty Cases of Major Zeman is a Czechoslovak action-drama television show intended as a political propaganda to support the official attitude of the communist party. The series were filmed in the 1970s. Each episode encompasses one year, and investigations are stylized to that year. Most are inspired by real cases. The series follows the life of police investigator Jan Zeman during his career from 1945 to 1975.