L. H. Struna

Jánošík has been topic of many Slovak and Polish legends, books and films. According to the legend, he robbed nobles and gave the loot to the poor. The legend were also known in neighboring Silesia, the Margraviate of Moravia and later spread to the Kingdom of Bohemia. The actual robber had little to do with the modern legend, whose content partly reflects the ubiquitous folk myths of a hero taking from the rich and giving to the poor. However, the legend was also shaped in important ways by the activists and writers in the 19th century when Jánošík became the key highwayman character in stories that spread in the north counties of the Kingdom of Hungary (present Slovakia) and among the local Gorals and Polish tourists in the Podhale region north of the Tatras.

Concert master Karel Mašek is a drunk, as well as engineer Danda and other regular guests of the pub U Kroců. Mašek returns from the pub in the morning and promises the woman that he will stop drinking. But he failed again, and the orchestra players refuse to play with him. Danda returns home without a bag and goes to Krocs again in the morning, even though he has an important job at work. He has been degraded to subordinate job position, but he refused to admit it at home.

Vojtěch's beloved Frantina is leaving for Prague to work. Vojtěch promises his dying mother that he will become a priest. His brother Karel is to inherit the mill. However, during the feast, he attacks the weak Josífek and then flees the village. He hides in a quarry with an unknown vagrant. While blasting a stone in the quarry, the vagrant dies, and Karel exchanges his documents for his own. Vojtěch is still thinking about Frantina in the seminary.

Rudolf Měšťák’s silent film The Prague Executioner, based on the novel of the same name by Josef Svátek, is a historical tale of love, betrayal and revenge.

Orphan Jirka lives alone with his grandfather by the river. He spends all his free time by the water and does not grow up with the other children. His biggest dream is to catch a big pike, which he knows that he can't do without friends. ► International Film Festival of Documentary and Experimental Films Montevideo - 1956 - 1st Main Prize (Distributor's Official Text)

A lyrical tale of the pure, vernal romance between a diffident, somewhat naive girl from a rural backwater and a fairly dissolute, but kind-hearted law student from Prague.

The film depicts the troubles of Herr Verner (Karel Hasler), a middle-aged bachelor dentist who wants to marry.

The most important silent film by director Martin Frič. Poet Vitezslav Nezval did scenographic modifications to the original story by Václav Wasserman. Film producer Jaroslav Stransky didn’t witness premier; because of fear of financial collapse, he killed himself.

Andrea, the beautiful daughter of a railway gateman, is seduced by a rich passenger, who missed his train. Left pregnant, Andrea marries another man and moves to Prague, only to encounter her former lover and recover her former lust.

In May 1945, Czech revolutionaries used several armoured trains in the fighting - partly captured, partly assembled from whatever the railway brought. One of them was commanded by the shunter Jan Chýň, who managed to bring weapons from the ammunition depot in Libčice to help the fighting in Prague.

The film depicts the adventures of Kacenka (Zdena Kavková) and Vincek (Vlasta Burian), two innocent country bumpkins who live in a Czech small town, and the various jobs that Kacenka has once she moves to Prague, that beautiful capital city. Our heroine will have to bear difficult working conditions and to make things worse, she falls in love with a fake aristocrat. Fortunately her companion, Vincek who is also in Prague, has an unrequited love for her. Though he is the cause of many Kacenka's problems, Vincek finally will help and resolve her loves troubles. And of course there is a happy ending that brings the Czech couple together.

A group of temporary workers arrive at the Czech-German border to conduct geological exploration. However, not all people have pure intentions and a past, and so the group of geologists is threatened by saboteurs who want to blow up an abandoned mine and escape across the border...

On the coast of Yugoslavia lives fisherman Ivo Kralj, his wife Marie, son Vuk, and Ivo's mother in one happy home. Marie, who loves her husband and always looks forward to his return from sea, attracts Nikola, with whom Ivo, out of jealousy, has a scuffle at a dance. After the outbreak of World War I Ivo is mobilized. He ends up in a P.O.W. camp where he is subjected to hard labour. His family then receives news of his death. The years pass and the lonely widow Marie is occasionally visited by her friend Nikola. Ivo's mother would like her to remarry. Soon after the wedding Marie becomes pregnant. Ivo, who has been thought dead, succeeds in escaping the P.O.W. camp where he has spent several years. Upon his arrival home he finds his name on a memorial erected to the victims of the war...

One of the few European films of the 30s to criticize the Nazis, even if they couldn't be directly named due to censorship: Gangsters with gray hats stir up trouble in what is obviously the Sudetenland.

In the past, most of the wood from the mountain forests was transported to the sawmills by river. The rafters were gradually replaced by trucks and railways, but they still remember the days of their glory and the romance of water travel. Two experienced old swimmers, Váň and Šindelář, managed to push for a return to the old way, at least for one trip. They got a group of like-minded enthusiasts and rafts made of logs can set off down the river...

The mysterious story of a young girl Pavla, who mysteriously disappeared from her mother five years ago, takes place in the dark corners of the Bratislava port. The girl was kidnapped by the hypnotist Lascani, who performs in a variety show and has just arrived in Pavla's hometown on his travels. He completely controls his victim and Pavla doesn't remember anything. She has to act as his "medium" with Lascani and even has to be his lover. However, a young boatman, Franta, falls in love with the girl and tries to free her...

Two secretaries go out on a double date, but the inexperienced Mary flees when offered money for sexual favors. She takes refuge in a cafe and encounters a plebeian Prince Charming. The film recounts the simple progress of their romance after they go home together.

The first film treatment of the fate of the good soldier Švejk, a dog dealer from Prague, who is arrested after the Sarajevo assassination, psychiatrically examined and later called up to c. and k. army to fight for the emperor lord.

Three separate short stories by Jan Drda from the collection The Dumb Barricade: The Dynamite Watchman, Hatred and Traces.

The construction of the new dam deprived the ferryman Ryba of his trade. The new dam replaced the ferry. However, Ryba's ancestors were ferrymen and the old man would have liked his two sons to take up the same profession. But Joseph is an indecisive weakling and Karel found work on the dam. That's why old Ryba drove him out of the house. The persistent rain brings Ryba miserable joy. The man knows well that a sudden flood can endanger the unfinished dam. In his fanatical hatred, he forgets that the water from a broken dam would sweep away his house and his daughter-in-law and sick grandchild in the first place...

In the Škoda factory, where they are feverishly rearming in 1914, works the foreman Kalina, the father of the young men Pavel and Jan. Pavel is a supporter of the monarchy, while Jan, on the contrary, defends the idea of ​​our national independence. Just before mobilization, Jan escapes to Russia, where he joins a group of volunteer legionnaires called the "Czech Company", fighting against the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Pavel enlists in the Austrian army. The brothers do not meet again until July 1917 in the battle of Zborov in Ukraine, which marked a successful breakthrough of the Austro-Hungarian front.

Associate Professor Jakub Johanek was looking forward to his uncle's inheritance and celebrated it with his friends in advance, not knowing what treasures he could actually expect. He had a few too many drinks and woke up the next day with a perfect window. He is tormented by a hangover, and on top of that, the housekeeper comes in with a statement that he robbed her daughter of her wedding ring yesterday - so the associate professor is in for a quick wedding. Although Jakub has been eyeing the girl for a long time, he now has completely different concerns. He has been approached by a certain loafer who claims to have seen Johanek set fire to a stack of wood at night with his own eyes. If he doesn't get a hefty ransom, he will go and report him...

The smooth narration, corresponding to the requirements of a light comedy, develops the smiling and optimistic story of the "one-armed" beggar Dostál, who earned enough money with his excellent begging skills to buy a nice house, become a respectable master of the house, and save the impoverished lawyer Neprosil from poverty, who he contributed regularly to him when he was still well off. He also wanted to get him together with his pretty ward Zorka, for whom he said he would be an ideal husband, but the young people were able to do that by themselves and without his clumsy help, or rather despite his rather ineffective help... The film was shown at the VI. IFF in Venice in 1938.