Vladimír Kalina
Set in Prague during the years leading up to World War II, this family saga tells the story of a cobbler named Vincenc Bursik (Vladimir Mensik), who uproots his clan from the country to the city, only to suffer the loss of his wife and the failure of his shoe business within months. When his daughter moves away to go live with a wealthy businessman as his mistress, Vincenc is left to take care of his two sons, who spend their days in a secret garden vying for the affections of a teenage girl.
A musical comedy about a date between boy and girl which started badly but continued very unexpectedly...
Eight-year old Dominique has a name-day. Her parents have a gift for her, but only give it to her in the evening, when everybody has come home from work. Then she darts out, where her girlfriends are already waiting for her.
During the Second World War, an old fortress is transformed into a detention camp for arrested allied generals who the Germans provide with every possible comfort. In the nearby garrison camp, however, hundreds of captured private soldiers try to survive hunger and cold.
The title of this Czech domestic drama translates loosely as A Suburban Romance. The heroine is a young, unmarried woman who finds herself a "little bit pregnant." She tries to hide this fact from her mother, but it isn't long before the truth is obvious. This is the main story; the rest of the film consists of brief character vignettes, illustrating the diversity of the neighborhood in which the girl lives. Refreshingly, Zizkowska Romance is free of political propaganda, which was the exception rather than the rule back in 1958. The film was one of Czechoslovakia's entries in that year's Cannes Film Festival.
