Karel Dostal

In Czechoslovakia, in the early 20th century, a seriously ill chemist recalls how he discovered a powerful explosive and how it ended up in the hands of anarchists.

A sometimes humorous, sometimes more serious look at the hustle and bustle of a house in Lesser Town with a diverse array of tenants living there, and often petty quarrels that break out between them. Behind the facade of the house in Lesser Town "U dvou slunců" (Two Suns) there is life. The Bavors live here, eternal slaves to the grocery store. The Ebros, who need to marry their daughter off at a good price. The bachelor Dr. Loukota and other interesting Nerudov characters.

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 generally respected director of a small-town savings bank, Hlavsa, commits embezzlement because of his wasteful and spoiled wife, and when the situation cannot be saved, he shoots himself. His mother, a simple village woman, takes in her widowed daughter-in-law and teenage grandson on the condition that they both help her to compensate for all the damage. For the city lady, the hard village work is suffering. The same goes for young Bořík, a gifted pianist who finds it difficult to give up his dreams of an artistic career...

Marta Hornová, a blind soloist of the radio orchestra, becomes acquainted with the actor of the state drama Robert Holan. He also meets her sister Helena, a talented sculptor, whom he mistakes for Marta. However, when he returns her blue veil, which she supposedly lost during their meeting in the radio building, Helena realizes that Holan actually loves her sister...

A romantic story of a noble lady who wanted to live without the bonds of marriage, but her desire for a child led her - carefully disguised - into the arms of a young nobleman. Only years later did she believe in his love and make herself known.

Vincenc Babočka, an insignificant employee of the police station, plays detective in private, convinced of his exceptional abilities. However, a vacation in Karlovy Vary unexpectedly gives him the opportunity to prove what he is really capable of. He is mistakenly considered to be the international adventurer Leon Weber, who is being pursued by the police. He decides to take advantage of the confusion and expose Weber's accomplices, who are planning to steal diamonds belonging to the Maharaja of Yohir. According to Weber's plan, he meets the Maharaja disguised as General Naryshkin, but everything only works out until the real Weber appears in town...

Thirteen people have gathered at Mayor Bartoš's. The company is uneasy about this number and therefore warmly welcomes the fourteenth guest, who is the new librarian Pavel Čtrnáctý...

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.

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.

Dvořák's well-known composition reappears again and again in the serious moments of the lives of the father and son Hupeks - talented non-professional musicians for whom music gives them the opportunity to rise above difficulties and problems...

A comedy about a small student boarding house, whose quirky and energetic owner, Miss Klatovská, takes maternal care of all her tenants, selflessly helps them with their problems and experiences all their successes, student loves and life's ups and downs with them. Whether it's the failing octave student Eman's problems with Latin, the hopeless love of chemist Jožka Budil for the medic Magda Bártová, or the fraudulent sale of a rare painting, in which the medic Mirek Toman gets involved...

In a country whose people have just been successfully persuaded of their superiority and the justification for military expansion by the fiery speeches of a dictator, the bacillus of a highly destructive form of leprosy has spread. It is called morbus Tshengi, or popularly „white disease“. The only one who has developed an effective cure for it is a physician of the poor named Galén. But he refuses to reveal the secret of his cure as long as the powerful destroy human lives through wars.

It all begins when Zuzanka, the new young owner, arrives at the dilapidated Blue Star Hotel. Determined to put the declining inheritance back on its feet, she starts chasing three young men, including the composer Jirka, who, dressed in a waiter's tailcoat, is to work off his debt to the new owner. Like his two friends, Jirka succumbs to the charms of his new boss and, with some confidence, hopes that he is the one who has the best chance of becoming her chosen one. At that moment, however, a guest arrives, intent on carrying out the family tradition and throwing an engagement party at the Blue Star Hotel, regardless of his condition. This, however, is not to the liking of his wilful fiancée. Fortunately, there is the sympathetic Zuzanka, who charms the unusual guest so much that he resolutely breaks off his engagement to the rich girl and prefers to marry the cute hotelier.

A biographical film about the famous Czech painter Mikoláš Aleš, portrayed as part of the vanguard of the working class and a spokesman for the oppressed, who asserts himself despite the opposing bourgeoisie and reactionaries of all kinds. The film focuses on the period when Mikoláš Aleš participated in the competition to decorate the National Theatre.

A very hardworking but also very naive insurance company clerk, Valentin Plavec, becomes the target of endless pranks, jokes and recessions from his colleagues Bejšovec and Voborník. However, their last successful trick somewhat gets out of hand. They add a one to the winning number 8456 and convince Valentin that he has won a million in the lottery. However, since Valentin cannot collect his winnings immediately, he withdraws twenty thousand, which is all the savings he has saved together with his fiancée Helena, and starts shopping for a deposit. However, the truth soon comes out and when his colleagues reveal to him that it was just a joke, they all leave him, only the faithful Helena stays and even helps the unfortunate fiancé cancel all the deposits and agreed deals. When the newspaper reports that there has been a mistake and the winning ticket is number 18456, Valentin decides to take revenge on the two pranksters...

When Vilem appears in the road with an unconscious young woman, it disturbs the peaceful life of three generations of the Balvínova family.

The bourgeois family does not forgive, from her point of view, inappropriate behavior - contempt overtakes both the girl who decides to dedicate her life to dancing and her sister, who takes in her child, passing it off as her own. The sinister lesson is that even the greatest career cannot compensate for lost maternal love...

A writer of pulp crime novels is drawn into a series of real crimes. This film was one of the first Czech attempts on a genre parody.

Prague in the 1870s. Work in Smolík's sulphur factory is hard and dangerous to health. The poorly paid workers resemble torches because their clothes are soaked with poisonous phosphorus. Young Josef Rezler also works in the sulphur factory and uses his earnings to feed his mother and little sisters. He throws his perpetually drunken father out of the house. The older worker Brož forces Josef to learn to read and write. A cholera epidemic breaks out in Prague and Josef is the only one of his family to survive the disease...

Prague, the beginning of the 17th century. Rozina falls in love with Italian glass worker Nikolo, but after returning home, she gets a message that will never come to Prague. She falls for the promise of an older man to marry her, but when Nikolo does return, the tragic fate of Rozina is sealed.

A morally questionable lord comes to the aid of a working class man who is to be executed for speaking out about thieving rich scoundrels sticking it to the poor.

The imperial councilor Ullik decides to modernize his old mills by installing a new turbine. His eccentric brother-in-law Artuš tries to prevent this, as the construction work disrupts the statics of the tower in which he lives. Ullik's older daughter Tynda is a talented singer. The bewitched girl secretly accepts the courtship of the virile Václav, the son of the night watchman. Her younger sister, the doctor Marie, wins the heart and hand of the astronomer Zouplna, despite her father's prohibition...