The Unfortunate Bridegroom

A crime story about Western diplomats in Prague.

It is 1955 and the government in Czechoslovakia has declared an amnesty for post-war emigrants. Many of them returned to their families, only young Pavel Kocián's single mother waits in vain for him. Despite her protests, Tomáš Stach, an assembler, is accommodated in her flat as a lodger. Until recently, his fiancée Jana was also waiting for Pavel's return, but she has given up hope and visits Mrs Kocián only out of pity. One evening, an unknown man who introduces himself as Jonáš and claims to know Pavel visits her.

The honest and a bit naive director of a variety agency, Jožin Petránek, sits on the qualification committee that judges entertainers and performers of all kinds. The man firmly rejects any favouritism. But at work and at home, he's in for nothing but trouble. The rejected "artists" protest, and Jožin's wife Anna would like to promote her friend's daughter into show business. His new secretary Zuzana starts to seduce him. Petranek finally succumbs to the French chansonnier Madelaine. But Zuzana calls Mrs. Petrankova and she drives her husband away from the table and the bed. Eventually, Jozhin loses his position as director and becomes an ordinary stage recruiter. Now the real showbiz hype is just beginning for him...

Film makes the creative process visible by letting its narrative flow in the mind of a foreign director who is researching a film about Franz Kafka in Prague. Based on the principle of dreams and free association, segments unfold that deal with the various points of view that Kafka's work, personality and fate offer. In the labyrinth of his mind, the fictional director projects himself into situations from the author's life, with Kafka himself as his guide. At the same time, he delves into the history of the persecution of the Jews and glimpses the monstrosity of the bureaucratic apparatus that Kafka anticipated but could not have foreseen the monstrous size and function it would grow to a few years after his death in the institutionalized genocide and overall machinery of Nazism.

During the Nazi occupation of a Czech city civilians are being rounded up on the slightest of pretexts and shot. One day three high school boys who crack jokes about a recently deceased "hero of the Reich" are pulled out of school by the Gestapo.

Two short stories by Karel Čintamani a ptáci An avid collector of carpets, MUDr. Vitásek discovers a unique piece in Mrs. Severýnová's junk shop - a Persian carpet with a pattern of birds. As a connoisseur, he knows that there are only three of these carpets in existence and they are all owned by different monarchs. Severyn has no idea how rare it is, but the carpet is not for sale. It was saved by the wealthy widow Zanelli, who travels all over the world and rarely visits Prague. Vitásek confides in his lawyer friend Bimbal and with his help tries to retrieve the rare piece. Tales of a marriage fraudster The police headquarters is on high alert as marriage frauds proliferate. The hallmark of the culprit is violin playing and gold teeth. Inspector Pigeon of the train service eventually apprehends the fraudster, Vincent Plichta. The serious criminal doesn't resist arrest, he just bills the costs and goes to serve his sentence. After a while, marriage fraud is reported again.

Two families, Sebkovi and Krausovi, are celebrating Christmas, but not everyone is in a good mood. The teenage kids think that their fathers are totally stupid, and the fathers are sure that their children are nothing more than rebels, hating anything they say.

The family of Prague greengrocer Pavlas was among the first immigrants to settle in the border village of Severov. Together, the new residents manage to harvest their first harvest on time and successfully - but they will have to uncover a German saboteur posing as the manager of a sawmill...

Frona Filípková, out of a desire for a better life, married Floriš Zobač on the land. However, the ownership of the land has affected both her husband and her father-in-law, who, out of hatred, intrigue against the emerging agricultural cooperative and against each other, so Frona looks for a way to free herself.

Karel Doležal, insurance clerk and exemplary father of a family, leaves for a business trip with his secretary Vlasta. After spending the night together, they both return home. However, thanks to a small moment of inattention, they run over the boys. Karel runs away from the scene of the crime. He won't tell anyone what happened. Then when he reads in the newspaper that the boy did not survive the accident, he begins to feel guilty. He confides in his wife about the accident, not the infidelity. Their son Jirka overhears everything. His father has always been his role model, and that's why he doesn't want to accept his guilt.

How will the irresistible darling of women, the seducer and the eternal philanderer cope when several of his "loves" unexpectedly appear in his apartment on New Year's Eve?

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.

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 Emperor's mismanagement of his country is provoking some in his court to plot to overthrow him. He feels successful, at least, when he discovers the legendary Golem, which he believes can protect him and even cure his imaginary illnesses but, when he disappears while on a bender, his kindly baker, who looks just like him, is mistaken for him, and begins to put things in order. However, the conspirators, not to be outdone, determine to bring the Golem back to life to do their bidding.