Heda Marková

An anthology of three absurd, ironic tales inspired by Čapek’s “Tales from One Pocket” and “Fables and Side Stories,” each showing uncanny forces disrupting ordinary lives: in Krejčík’s “Glorie,” a gentle clerk is haunted by a sudden halo; the other two segments by Mach and Makovec similarly blend everyday routines with ironic, supernatural twists.

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.

As a young actor František Lukávec and his teacher Vladimir Tuma became enemies. František insisted that Tuma was dismissed from the school as a reactionary and hostile to the new government. Many years passed, and here they met again on the stage of a theater. František is assigned the role of Julius Fucik, Tuma plays the role of a Gestapo man in the same play. In the course of the action, the Gestapo man beats Fucik. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Tuma beats up his old enemy during the dress rehearsal. Frantisek's face is bleeding, but he will still play. The rehearsal continues...

The suffocating conditions in a bourgeois family were depicted in several films in the second half of the 1950s - this one is one of the lesser known, although it achieves great emotional impact, free from the first ideological pressures. The title character, the owner of the tenement house Mrs. Dulská, controls her relatives and tenants with a firm and despotic hand. To achieve her goals, she masterfully combines tears, blackmail and insidious intrigues, or does not hesitate to abuse the trusting and handsome maid Hanka when she wants her son not to fool around. Everything suddenly turns around when Hank gets pregnant... But the appearance of a good reputation is more important to her than anything.

The sad hero of the story, Petr, an ordinary lawyer in a construction company, is crowded into a small apartment in Žižkov with his wife and grandparents, desperately struggling with the lack of money. One day he offers an old man a seat on a crowded trolley bus and is generously rewarded for his good deed, for the unknown old man is a fabulous grandfather. He gives Peter a magic bell and the opportunity to make three wishes, but the first two slip through his fingers. For the third, the astonished man must take time to think...

Olga finds her husband Karel Brand, whom she has just divorced, shot dead after returning from the cinema. It appears to be a clear case of suicide, but Lieutenant Dusek of the Public Security Service suspects that it is a murder, which, it is not impossible, as a number of evidences point against it, could have been committed by Mrs Olga. A letter from the dead man to his wife seems to dispel any doubt that it could have been murder. Lieutenant Dusek, however, investigates further. Much more than he, however, learns about the true circumstances from Mrs. Olga's legal advisor, Dr. Klimesh. He learns that the letter is indeed a forgery and that Brand's death is linked to the raids of an anti-state gang. He hesitates for a long time whether to confide in security, believing that doing so would testify in favor of Dusek's theory that the murder was committed by Olga...

Kaspar Len returns home after three years in the army. He vainly searches for the mason Kryštof’s family where he had lived before he left. All he finds out is that Kryštof’s daughter Márynka, who was in his thoughts all those years, is now working in the local brothel. He goes to visit her and Márynka tells him of the misfortunes which befell her family.

Princess Blanka (Aglaia Morávková) is secretly meeting her beloved, huntsman Ondrej (Jirí Papez). Only the chamber-maid Anezka (Jirina Bohdalová) is in favour of their love but Blanka’s father, the King (Jaroslav Marvan), mustn’t find out anything about it. Blanka is refusing all the bridegrooms the King has invited to the castle. The King has enough of his daughter’s moodiness and shuts her up in the tower. The suitors must search for her and she is to marry the one who finds her first.