Václav Sloup
The musical version of the successful play of Oldřich Daněk was transferred to the screen by director Jiří Sequens in 1986. It takes place in the 14th century in Bohemia during the reign of King Wenceslas IV. Heroes of the story are three mercenaries who always fight on the wrong side and are always beaten, but they are moral winners of all conflicts and skirmishes.
Stárnoucí herec Theodor Bergner se v profesi chová jako primadona, v soukromí jako dokonalý hrubián a cholerik. Všichni lidé bez výjimky ho rozčilují, v lepším případě pro ně má podrážděné odseknutí, častěji ale přímé urážky. Navíc je obdařen velice zvláštním druhem humoru, vyžívá se v tom, že přivádí druhé do rozpaků. Jednoho dne potkává ve vlaku jakéhosi starého pána, z něhož se vyklube kouzelný dědeček. A od té chvíle se Theodor veze na klouzačce nepříjemných situací. Přesně podle přísloví Co sám nechceš, nečiň jinému si může vychutnat všemožné trapasy, jaké doposud zlomyslně připravoval nešťastníkům ve svém okolí... (oficiální text distributora)
A married couple of artists move to a utopian town known for its absolute freedom, but behind the surface perversion and violence are spreading.
In the Prague Old Town and the adjoining streets there is always plenty of life. Housewives shop, beggars arouse sympathy, the Salvation Army tries to put the godless on the road to salvation by hymns and sermons, and Ferdys Pistora hunts in the pockets of his fellow men and isn't even put off by the presence of an officer of the law. Ferdys sets off to burgle villa of the banker Rosenstok, but a fire breaks out in the house and Ferdys ends up saving the banker's two small children. For this he is celebrated as a hero and gets a place as an errand boy with the Rosenstoks. At home he is visited by representatives of the Salvation Army, Captain Kosterka and Terezka, with whom Ferdys instantly falls in love.
It is 5 May 1945 and the uprising against the hated German occupiers has broken out in Prague. The Czech guards open the gate of the Pankrác prison to allow the prisoners to escape en masse. Many of them are shot dead by the German guards but young Ruda (Jaromír Hanzlík) manages to run away. He is taken care of by one of the Prague fighters, concierge Kytka. Kytka hides him in the flat of the house's owner where only the young maid Karla (Jana Brejchová) is left, ordering her to take care of Ruda.
Mikolás and his brother Adam rob travelers for their tyrannical father Kozlík. During one of their "jobs" they end up with a young German hostage whose father escapes to return news of the kidnapping and robbery to the King. Kozlik prepares for the wrath of the King, and sends Mikolás to pressure his neighbor Lazar to join him in war. Persuasion fails, and in vengeance Mikolás abducts Lazar's daughter Marketa, just as she was about to join a convent. The King, meantime, dispatches an army and the religious Lazar will be called upon to join hands against Kozlik. Stripped-down, surreal, and relentlessly grimy account of the shift from Paganism to Christianity.
A character from a musical film falls into the real world in this short, predating similar films by Woody Allen (The Purple Rose of Cairo) and Wojciech Marczewski (Escape from the 'Liberty' Cinema).
