Marie Ježková

The drama from the time of the Nazi occupation begins at the train station, where a transport with German soldiers is passing. The train is stopped due to improvised sabotage by one of the railway workers. Resistance liaison Růžena Kubínová is arrested in a random raid. The cynical councilor Dönnert discovers her false documents and has her brutally interrogated. He suspects that she could contribute to exposing the entire group. He puts a informant, Herta, in her cell.

The doomed love of a city girl caught in the vise of poverty is detailed in Vavra’s fluid, romantic work, one of the most elegant creations of the Czech Modernist era... The film lingers over its characters’ habitats and haunts, finding psychological truths in what each owns or desires, and countering every Hollywood-ready scene of gleaming restaurants and dazzling penthouses with realist moments of employment lines and crammed flats. Vavra’s classical camerawork and aura of romantic defeatism give Virginity a force comparable to the master of this genre, Hollywood’s Frank Borzage. (BAM/PFA)

Professor Karas is widely known as enthusiastic propagator of the motto "Morality Above All Else". He guides his students as well as his own family to live a morally decent life. One day he has an unexpected visit. It's his illegitimate daughter Vera, who is proof of his thoughtless youth. Mr. Karas know that she can ruin his image, thus he decides to keep her a secret and asks her to leave. Instead of leaving she takes a position of a governess in his own family without letting him know. Mr. Karas realizes that he must reveal the truth sooner or later, but he doesn't have enough courage to do so. As he postpones it, he is more and more scared to come to his own home.

May 1945. On the outskirts of Prague, ordinary people meet Soviet soldiers-liberators with tears of joy in their eyes. In the early days of the lull, someone sadly recalls a pre-war life; someone unexpectedly meets his love; someone is returning from enemy dungeons looking hopefully into the future; and someone, having moved from a tank into a Czech tram, warmly recalls his craft as a car driver... These days, all those who survived the Great War fire swear an oath to keep peace on Earth forever, honoring the memory of those who gave their lives for simple human happiness.

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.

The wealthy factory owner Osten has achieved his position thanks to his energy and diligence. However, he has one weakness - he cannot admit that he too must grow old one day. What scares him most is the thought of becoming a grandfather. To prevent this, he is willing to become a rival in love with his own son. One day, Jiří has ​​had enough of his father's actions and decides to leave his house and his comfortable life. He even changes his name and starts working in a competing factory as an ordinary worker to prove to his father that he too is capable of working his way up from scratch. That is when Jiří meets the energetic seamstress Tonička, who is studying in the evenings to become an office worker. The young people are happy together, but the factory owner Osten comes between them. He offers Tonička a position as a secretary and is ready to win her over...

Grammar school teacher Bláha hurts himself in pursuit of a red lizard, and is lying unconscious in the lonely house of Santrucek family. The postman, who found Bláha's coat and hat in the water, announces to everyone in town that the professor has drowned. But, the venerable citizens are at that moment more interested in the theatre group with the beautiful guest actress Eva Gazdová. They demand a change of repertoire and manage to persuade the theatre manager to have the group play the musical comedy The Red Lizard instead of an established play.