Battalion

In the very strong competition of 1937, there were a number of perfect films. This year has honestly never been surpassed in terms of quantity and probably never will be in terms of quality. There were many good films in the theaters that year, and I consider Battalion among them. Cikán Battalion became a remake of Prague's first version from 1927 and brought with it several proven actors (Eman Fiala in particular reprised his lively dress in an excellent way), but also a new script that gave full prominence to the character of Helena, the wife of the lawyer Uher, and brought him to the absolute bottom. Helena Bušová thus got the opportunity to use her romantic acting and became a great competitor to Hana Vítová’s Mimi. Why beat around the bush? Simply put, there isn't a movie window I don’t adore in this film. I enjoy the entire underworld of Battalion, the performances of the actors, the atmosphere, the costumes, and the delirium at the end. The only flaw in the beauty of the current copy is the nonsensical addendum from 1952. But what wasn’t senseless in 1952? (29.03.2011)

I understand that film journalism and artistic criticism considered Cikán's Battalion a showcase of Czech cinema during that era, but after 80 years I find few merits that would still speak to me today. The film is primarily an attempt at a social drama, for which it receives one star, and the second star is for the cast, for example, for Eduard Kohout, who brilliantly played the tragicomic character of a deluded fool convinced that he is a noble. Eman Fiala, in the tragic role of pianist Lojzík, appeared significantly old for 27, and František Smolík proves why he was considered one of the greatest actors of his time. However, it lacks raw realism, and it is rather sentimental, polished, and idealized in a bourgeois way for my taste. Additionally, some of the actors could not avoid theatrical exaggeration. In short, the flaws of Czech cinema of the 1930s cannot be denied even in this case. Overall impression: 45%. (09.04.2017)