Eduard Šimáček

Filmed during the Nazi occupation, this panoramic drama set in a Prague department store follows the divergent destinies of four female coworkers, each of whom seeks happiness in a different way.

Austria's victory over Sweden at the 1947 World Ice Hockey Championship in Prague helped Czechoslovakia win the title of world champion. After the match, the cheering of the spectators in the stadium knows no bounds, and so it happens that dentist Jan Vaněček is kissed by an unknown girl out of joy. The kiss is captured by a film camera and is then seen in a film newsreel by Vaněček's fiancée Lída in the cinema. She becomes very angry and does not want to see Vaněček anymore...

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.

Fifty years old Baron von Fibberg lives at The Fibberg Castle with his wife Olga and daughter Charley. Besides the delight in hunting, Baron is very enthusiastic about truth. Although he can't withstand any falsehood of others, he keeps his own intimate secrets from his wife. Charley seems to be an innocent girl at first glance, but she has a little secret too. She fell in love with a young fop Ernest Benda and married him in secret. Her only concern is the way, how to let her strict father know about the marriage. Together with her husband they prepare a plan how to do it, but it turns out to be a catastrophe for the whole family.

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.

An elderly rich lady, Hyacinta Horáková, is leaving for a spa. She entrusts her terrier Bobík to her sister-in-law Ludmila and her daughter Marcela, who live in her villa. The dog mysteriously disappears before long and there is no choice but to publish an advertisement promising a reward. In the newspaper's administration, advertising artist Ludvík Zoubek notices Marcela. He would like to please the girl who has charmed him and starts looking for the dog...

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.

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.

The determined Mrs. Barbora Čápová, the owner of a goose farm in Brousilov, is trying to get her daughter married. The advertisement receives a whole box of responses, so the caring mother has plenty to choose from. Pavel Stehlík appears to be the most suitable candidate, and since her daughter also likes him, a famous party is held. The newlywed is not proud of the fact that he is literally drowning in debt. Moreover, he gets along suspiciously well with his father-in-law, and the two have all sorts of falling out. After some time, they set off on a trip to Prague together. As if by chance, Mrs. Barbora is on the same trip that same day - and meets her husband at a variety show, where she went with an old acquaintance. She promises cruel revenge on the unfaithful man, but her plans are thwarted by a completely unexpected event...

A village shop owner is convinced by his children to move to Prague, where they say he'll be able to enjoy a fine retirement in a modern furnished apartment. Bored by life in Prague with nothing to do, the old man takes to helping a young widow in her stationery shop.

Small stories from a grammar school.

Věra Kalinová lives a life of luxury with her uncle, a factory owner. Having just won a literary contest, she receives an offer to work for the social affairs column of a magazine. The aspiring writer takes her future editorial role very seriously—she wants to experience "real life" first. Telling her family she is heading to the mountains, she disguises herself as a poor girl and visits an employment agency.

Five crime stories connected by the narration of police superintendent Bartosek.

Rudolf Bartoš, the owner of a farm, quarry and factory, is extremely rich, however, he is unapproachable and irritable, and the dread of his employees. One day he falls down a steep slope by a river and hurts himself. The quarryman Fábera finds him groaning in pain and takes him to his cottage.

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

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...

Seventh form pupils at a grammar school in Přívlaky are preparing for a secondary school sports competition. Class creep Krhounek gives the class teacher Lejsal a copy of the seventh form’s magazine Roar. Most of the teachers insist on severe punishing the culprit. The author does not own up and consequently the whole class is punished by being banned from taking part in the schools competition. The most gifted pupil, Benetka, rather sharply criticises the school in a homework essay on a subject of his choice. The strict Czech language teacher is convinced Benetka is the author of the school magazine. Benetka denies the charge but his expulsion from school is proposed anyway on account the views he expounded in his essay. Eventually, Boukal, the author of the school magazine comes forward and admits to writing it. The pupils are allowed to take part in the contest and thanks to Benetka they win. In the meantime however the teachers vote to expell him.

Alena Skalická, the owner of the "Krásná skála" estate, returns to the property after years abroad to take over its management herself. Her uncle Skalický and Engineer Miloš Miláček, who have managed the estate until now, are planning a grand welcome. The gamekeeper, Štětivec, is set to deliver the welcoming speech, and Head Forester Eisenkulka is rehearsing him. Štětivec’s wife, the sharp-tongued Barbora, is terrified that her Matěj might do something foolish.

Josef Houbička, the owner of the U pěti veverek apartment building in Malostran, is a kind and forgiving good man who allows himself to be ruthlessly oppressed by his proud wife, Filoména, and secretly fixes her problems with the tenants. He lends rent money to two poor painters and bribes offended maids just to keep the house quiet. He would like to restore the old soap factory in the house, but Filoména promotes more profitable garages. And since neither of them wants to back down, Houbička eventually leaves the house after one of the arguments. He makes friends with the innkeeper Pulec, who runs the not-so-prosperous inn At the Leaky Jug...

A Milk-Cannery baron, Jakub Simonides, is broken by the Canned Milk-Trust and, in his wanderings with a worker, Filip Kornet, he discovers he still owns a half-finished apartment-house. They rally the workers and complete the building for use as a collectivist dairy. The cooperative flourishes and after a chase/pursuit with the police, pratfalls, slapstick and various crashes, the workers buy out the Milk-Trust.

The title refers to the office of records in the basement of a large company... sort of the place where a troublesome employee may be dumped in a dead end job. If fact, the story is a simple romantic comedy, with Burian as the kindly old stick-in-the-mud who helps the young man to sort out his romance with the daughter of the company's owner.

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....

After many years, three friends are to meet in Prague. The magician Marek was in America and, together with his nephew Tonny, they are bringing back their hard-earned money to their homeland. The factory owner Brejcha lives alone. His wife and daughter drove him to bankruptcy and abandoned him. The eternal student Netušil arrives from the countryside with his loving wife, the owner of a greengrocer's shop, and his daughter Anča. In the meantime, the creditors have completely evicted Brejcha's villa. Marek mentioned in a letter that he would like to marry his nephew to Brejcha's daughter. Little did he know, in order to help Brejcha, he comes up with a plan. His wife and daughter will become Brejcha's family and the money received from Marek will help the bankrupt factory owner pay off all his debts.