Juraj Herz

This three-part Austrian/Czech comedy stretches the boundaries of what is considered to be humorous. Part one finds a silent film actor upset because of a rival actor's attention to the former's wife. When he kills his rival, it is only when he is strapped to the electric chair that he realizes that this is his last live scene. The second episode has the wife of an elderly British nobleman having an affair with the young gamekeeper of their estate. Part three finds a peasant woman taking a lover when her husband goes off to fight the war.

In 1930s Prague, a Czech cremator who firmly believes cremation relieves one from earthly suffering is drawn inexorably to Nazism.

Jealous of her vapidly "good" sister's popularity, poisonous Viktoria doses pretty Klara's tea with a slow-acting fatal substance. As the latter grows hysterically weak, the former finds success increasingly compromised by guilt, blackmail, and the pesky need to kill others lest she be exposed.

Julie, the youngest daughter of a bankrupt merchant, sacrifices her life in order to save her father. She goes to an enchanted castle in the woods and meets Netvor, a bird-like monster. As Netvor begins to fall in love with Julie, he must suppress his beastly urge to kill her.

A military base. An awkward soldier. A statue of Bach. And suddenly all guns in the area change into music instruments. Great mystery is immediately found by TV station. And soon the military base becomes a stage for huge TV show.

In a small town in Nazi-occupied Slovakia during World War II, decent but timid carpenter Tono is named "Aryan comptroller" of a button store owned by an old Jewish widow, Rozalie. Since the post comes with a salary and standing in the town's corrupt hierarchy, Tono wrestles with greed and guilt as he and Rozalie gradually befriend each other. When the authorities order all Jews in town to be rounded up, Tono faces a moral dilemma unlike any he's known before.

A man leaves his busy city life for the peace of the country home where he spent his early childhood. His new life is soon disturbed by strange events.

A story set in a small village in Sudetenland between 1937 and 1945. "Habermann" is based on true events.

Sherlock Holmes likes to play violin and expects a great career in music. He gets a place in a spa orchestra, but he is again and again distracted by criminal cases. Therefore he is the only one who does not see that his violin has no future. He solves the criminal mysteries in passing but the final test shows that the famous detective is tone-deaf.

A satire of the Great American Way, with Lemonade Joe a "clean living" gunfighter who drinks only Kola-Loca Lemonade and convinces everyone else in town (with his gun skills) that all "real men" drink ONLY lemonade!

Juraj Herz adapts Bohumil Hrabal's story about a man who works in a junk shop.

A doctor is shocked when his beloved colleague Mima signs a contract with foreign car manufacturer Ferat, in order to work for them as a rally-driver. A scientist convinces him that human blood is being used as fuel for Mima's ever winning car, but does that really work?

Vašek learns that he is dying, so he steals a painting and goes to Rome to sell it – he needs money for a healer. Sitting on a train with a fake mustache on his face, he has no idea that he has, in fact, been sent on a spiritual quest of his life by a beautiful girl. His pursuers look as if they were transported from a 1970’s movie, yet his attention is constantly drawn to the other passengers, who pull him into their own stories with no mercy. Vašek slowly gets lost in a colorful chaos of other people’s destinies, opinions and his own dreams. In the end, his train will take some of them to hell, others to enlightenment or a bizarre epiphany. The film takes a humorous view on all the basic philosophical questions we have heard so many times but that we have yet to find the answers to.

In the film, the creative forces of personalities from three spheres of art collide. The subtitle "The Game of Love and Hate" refers to the motivation of an old Czech medieval satire, the theme belongs to Antonín Přidal, an expert on this subject. His collaboration with Juraj Herz created a collage of past and present, an updated, sharp satire and a parable about the clash of human qualities that could not but end up in the vault. The music of the Prague Selection - Michael Kocáb and Michal Pavlíček - also contributed to the film's offensive provocativeness - the film was one of the reasons for their complete move to the underground. The dancing chorus of medieval citizens resembles more of a jumble of long-haired maniacs, the edge of a contemporary dump intrudes into the space of a medieval marketplace, and the characters oscillate between the past and the present, whether in their appearance, symbolism or behaviour.

The dreaded Italian mafioso, Marian Labuda, will also be convinced. Mafioso Carmello was guilty of the principles of his organization when he tried to fool the boss and earned a death sentence. The convict runs away from the killer through Vienna to Prague, which his Austrian colleague in crime recommended as a safe hiding place. None of them knows that the Czechs learned so much tricks under real socialism that a seasoned Italian professional is not enough to watch.

The Emperor of a European country demands new clothes to wear every day, in fact sometimes several times a day. He imposes a heavy tax on the poor citizens to pay for his vanity. An itinerant man and boy come to the capital city and see the injustice, and make friends, but they soon have to flee. They return disguised as Arab tailors, and offer to make the Emperor a new suit of clothes. But only the wise will be able to see it; fools, or those unfit for their public office, will not see anything. The Emperor orders the suit made, and much money is needed to purchase the raw materials. Eventually the suit is ready, and the Emperor and his officials pretend that they can see a wonderful outfit; will anyone prick the bubble of the illusion?

After their young daughter dies suddenly from a viral infection, Marie and Petr struggle to cope with the silence and emptiness left in their apartment. The couple drifts apart as Marie sinks into deep isolation while Petr attempts to distract himself through work and social interactions. Eventually, they decide to try for another child in an effort to move forward and rebuild their fractured relationship.

The heroes of this absurd comedy, full of confusion and humor are Dzharda Zemanek and Frantisek Liska.

When a young princess, instead of being fully dedicated to her love, persists in running around like a tomboy and roaming the forests with her gang, and a young prince refuses to give up all his vices and mischief, an aquaphobic fairy takes their fate into her hands. The princess then falls in love with the prince, who declares eternal fidelity to her. When he however breaks this promise, the fairy turns him into a frog. With which the loyalty of the princess is being tested as well.

A funny outlaw tale inspired by traditional folk humour. Pacho is no ordinary outlaw. He detests injustice and feudal oppression and he copes with each troublesome situation with the help of his cleverness and wit.

When rumors spread about a "child prodigy" among the Mozarts in Salzburg, the archbishop orders an investigation in which the seven-year-old Wolfgang has to demonstrate his talent before a committee of scholars. Soon afterwards, Leopold Mozart and his son are traveling all over Europe to play for patrons and admirers. The new Archbishop of Salzburg, Count Colloredo, is not very enthusiastic about Mozart and dismisses him. Mozart marries Constanze Weber, settles in Vienna and has his first successes, earning him commissions and the goodwill of Josef II. In the last years of his life, his situation worsens; Mozart runs into financial difficulties and health problems, but still works incessantly.

The Slippers of Happiness is another film made by the Slovak Film Production in co-production with West German companies based on classic world fairy tales. After Slovak folk tales [The Greatest Peck in the World, Salt Over Gold] and the works of German fairy tale writers Wilhelm Hauff [The False Prince] and the Brothers Grimm [The Land of the Thrush's Beard, Perinbaba], screenwriter Alex Koenigsmark and director Juraj Herz were inspired by the famous fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. It tells the story of slippers that the Fairy of Fortune enchanted so that they would fulfill every human wish and thus bring people happiness. The filmmakers humorously transferred the plot from Copenhagen to old Prague.

Martin, a poor student, volunteers to go on a quest to find a cure for the princess Adriana, who is stricken with a strange illness. Unknown to Martin or anyone else, the princess is actually under the spell of the powerful magician Andlobrandini, who is preparing a rejuvenating elixir made from the blood of nine men's hearts.

In 1900, Stepha, the vivacious 30 year old daughter of a wealthy couple, agrees to marry her cousin Paul, who has accumulated large debts as an Austrian army officer. Paul refuses to work or to consummate the marriage, and then his health steadily declines.

The pragmatic, reserved and refined Maigret investigates murders in his singular unhurried manner and inevitably discovers the truth.