Third Company

The film Third Company is part of Josef Kopta's legionary work. The film adaptation of the first two novels is based on a joint screenplay by Kopta and Wasserman, in which the fate of the individual disappears in favor of the fate of the collective. As such, the resulting film is good. The scenes from the front are dynamic, the pre-revolutionary Russians are played authentically by their compatriots living in Czechoslovak exile at the time. It thus follows in the good tradition of silent legionary films such as For the Freedom of the Nation and Colonel Švec. The key problem for today's reception, however, is the complete absence of an acting lead, which Innemann never had time for. Whether Korbelář made his debut here in a rather large role and proved to be a suitable type for the given substance, he was still too inexperienced in dialogue work to be left to his own devices. This is how we could evaluate the better and worse, but always completely inconsistent performances by Hlavatý, Smolík, Fiala, Štěpánek or Plachta with Struna or Rovenský until we get to E. A. Longen, for whom this was his last attempt at a role in a sound film. At the time of the premiere, Karel Smrž, who still had a fresh memory of his performance in The Affair of Colonel Redl, which he rated as excellent, commented on the weakness of his performance here. This is a particularly valuable testimony, by the way, because no copy of Redl has survived to this day. The female roles of Ženíšková, Nedošinská, or Blažková are of a completely marginal character. ____ For me personally, The Third Company has a special value due to the fact that it is one of the last sound First Republic films I waited almost 20 years to see. (20.10.2019)