Skill of Gold

Skill of Gold 1943

8.50

A village shop owner is convinced by his children to move to Prague, where they say he'll be able to enjoy a fine retirement in a modern furnished apartment. Bored by life in Prague with nothing to do, the old man takes to helping a young widow in her stationery shop.

1943

Rozina the Love Child

Rozina the Love Child 1945

7.00

Prague, the beginning of the 17th century. Rozina falls in love with Italian glass worker Nikolo, but after returning home, she gets a message that will never come to Prague. She falls for the promise of an older man to marry her, but when Nikolo does return, the tragic fate of Rozina is sealed.

1945

Grandmother

Grandmother 1940

6.10

A highly romanticized autobiographical novel by a Czech 19th century writer, Bozena Nemcova. It's a classical, compulsory reading in Czech schools, about a wise, working-class woman, happier in her simplicity and good heart than the nobles whom she serves.

1940

Jan Cimbura

Jan Cimbura 1941

8.00

Two good friends return from long-term military service: Jan Cimbura from Semic and Josef Piksa from Putim. Piksa farms on his own, Cimbura accepts service with the Hradiště farmer and mayor of Kovanda. The farmhand Cimbura is a real treasure for the farm. He is strong and hardworking, he doesn't drink or smoke. He can keep his eyes on the girl Marjánka, and Cimbura likes her too. However, Cimbura doesn't want to and cannot marry. First, he wants to become independent, and that may take years....

1941

Happy Journey

Happy Journey 1943

5.00

Filmed during the Nazi occupation, this panoramic drama set in a Prague department store follows the divergent destinies of four female coworkers, each of whom seeks happiness in a different way.

1943

Humoreska

Humoreska 1939

6.00

Dvořák's well-known composition reappears again and again in the serious moments of the lives of the father and son Hupeks - talented non-professional musicians for whom music gives them the opportunity to rise above difficulties and problems...

1939

Virginity

Virginity 1937

5.30

The doomed love of a city girl caught in the vise of poverty is detailed in Vavra’s fluid, romantic work, one of the most elegant creations of the Czech Modernist era... The film lingers over its characters’ habitats and haunts, finding psychological truths in what each owns or desires, and countering every Hollywood-ready scene of gleaming restaurants and dazzling penthouses with realist moments of employment lines and crammed flats. Vavra’s classical camerawork and aura of romantic defeatism give Virginity a force comparable to the master of this genre, Hollywood’s Frank Borzage. (BAM/PFA)

1937

Čtrnáctý u stolu

Čtrnáctý u stolu 1943

1

Thirteen people have gathered at Mayor Bartoš's. The company is uneasy about this number and therefore warmly welcomes the fourteenth guest, who is the new librarian Pavel Čtrnáctý...

1943

Za tichých nocí

Za tichých nocí 1941

6.00

Jana's beautiful niece arrives in Prague to live with two spinster aunts. Both women wish to marry her off. The son of the court councilor Petr is courting her. However, Jana has met a young official Záviš and the two fall in love. But Záviš is poor and cannot marry yet. They keep it a secret from Jana that he composes songs. Coincidentally, Petr is his friend and both men talk about the girls they love, unaware that in both cases it is Jana...

1941

A Step into the Darkness

A Step into the Darkness 1938

5.50

A dashing but mysterious man saves a gambler from suicide, crashes the posh party of a prominent industrialist, falls in love with his daughter, and finds himself in a web of intrigue revolving around her blackmailing fiance and a gang of counterfeiters.

1938

Mother-Hen

Mother-Hen 1937

6.50

A comedy about a caring protector of the family who had help, good advice and understanding for everyone. No one in the family calls Anna Svojanovská anything other than Kvočna - everyone is used to running under her protective wings as soon as any problems arise. And what a blessing this mother and grandmother has to deal with!

1937

Přijdu hned

Přijdu hned 1942

6.80

The stuffed animal dealer Václav Barvínek spent twenty-four hours in prison for a petty dispute. And that very day, his uncle's will was read, stating that the deceased had hidden a check for a million crowns somewhere. If it was not cashed by the appointed time, the entire amount would go to charity. The other relatives looted all the movable property, and only an abandoned Saint Bernard remained in the uncle's villa, which the kind-hearted Mr. Barvínek took in. The cheated heir continues to lead a simple life and has no idea that wealth is within reach. He has quite different worries - the heart of the elderly fat man has burned with love for a girl whose friendliness he misinterpreted...

1942

The Girl in Blue

The Girl in Blue 1940

6.30

A painting of a girl from another time comes to life for it's buyer in this costume comedy.

1940

The World Where One Goes Begging

The World Where One Goes Begging 1938

1

The smooth narration, corresponding to the requirements of a light comedy, develops the smiling and optimistic story of the "one-armed" beggar Dostál, who earned enough money with his excellent begging skills to buy a nice house, become a respectable master of the house, and save the impoverished lawyer Neprosil from poverty, who he contributed regularly to him when he was still well off. He also wanted to get him together with his pretty ward Zorka, for whom he said he would be an ideal husband, but the young people were able to do that by themselves and without his clumsy help, or rather despite his rather ineffective help... The film was shown at the VI. IFF in Venice in 1938.

1938

Sobota

Sobota 1945

6.00

A social comedy about a wealthy man in his prime, for whom marital infidelity is just a pleasant and regular sport. A young flower shop owner, to whom her husband seems to be generally ordinary and overworked, nevertheless manages to resist the advances of an experienced seducer.

1945

Fish out of Water

Fish out of Water 1942

6.50

Ryba, the owner of a boat rental shop and ferryman, has lived his entire life in a house by the river, which often becomes fatal for swimmers and suicides. However, because Ryba saves many drowning people, he becomes a very popular figure in the entire region.

1942

Preludium

Preludium 1941

7.00

Theater props maker Karel Vajgant has a young wife, Magda, and two children, seven-year-old Pavlík and eleven-year-old Pepička. Magda is a caring mother, but she feels that her husband prioritizes work and his comfort. In a weak moment, Magda becomes unfaithful. Vajgant receives an anonymous letter that warns him of his wife's infidelity. His friend, the opportunist Tonda, advises him to throw away the letter and instead devote more time to Magda...

1941

Chalk and Cheese

Chalk and Cheese 1941

9.00

Rudolf Bartoš, the owner of a farm, quarry and factory, is extremely rich, however, he is unapproachable and irritable, and the dread of his employees. One day he falls down a steep slope by a river and hurts himself. The quarryman Fábera finds him groaning in pain and takes him to his cottage.

1941

The House of the Five Squirrels

The House of the Five Squirrels 1944

6.30

Josef Houbička, the owner of the U pěti veverek apartment building in Malostran, is a kind and forgiving good man who allows himself to be ruthlessly oppressed by his proud wife, Filoména, and secretly fixes her problems with the tenants. He lends rent money to two poor painters and bribes offended maids just to keep the house quiet. He would like to restore the old soap factory in the house, but Filoména promotes more profitable garages. And since neither of them wants to back down, Houbička eventually leaves the house after one of the arguments. He makes friends with the innkeeper Pulec, who runs the not-so-prosperous inn At the Leaky Jug...

1944