NinadeL

Vladimír Slavínský was a skilled skier and is still a popular native of Blansko. However, The Snowdrops is no miracle, and in my view, it simply broadens the view of Czech silent films set in the snow.

The Man Who Built the Cathedral is one of the earliest Czech silent films to have a place in the general consciousness thanks to its release on TV and it is also one of the few Czech titles that began to represent Czech cinema abroad in the 1910s. Unfortunately, on every occasion I encountered the film, it was accompanied by different music, and in the case of the television broadcast, this had a major effect in further reducing the already meager opportunity to broadcast other Czech silent treasures. It may be a masterpiece of the Degl brothers and a nicely realized legend, with Eva Vrchlická overacting nicely and the devilish Jaroslav Hurt, but I'd rather watch two other films than this one.

A delightful rococo affair of the Degl brothers made in Prague in the locality of Grébovka. The film is of many pleasant surprises about how diverse Czech cinema was in the 1910s. Indeed, pastoral lyricism in its essence cannot fail to captivate.

A very pleasant memory of the second year of StummFest. It’s too bad about the part with the catering because otherwise, Polykarp could have been the second great comic-romantic serial hero of the Czech film scene next to the pre-war Rudi.

I consider A Tooth for a Tooth a very original theme that could also succeed as a shorter story even today. The plot, which is based on a crisis in a profession and is resolved by a woman's foresight, is still relevant. And revenge is sweet, it has been, and will be.

Of ASUM's long films, only this drama about the revenge of a woman who was cheated on has survived. When I was first introduced to this, I found the film to be similar to certain American or French films of that and later times. Andula Sedláčková was a complete Musidora of the time.

In a theoretical debate, this is nonsense, which is of course very soon refuted. For example, from a financial point of view, at the time it was more interesting to go to the movies than to the theater. Moreover, the ratio of theatrical scenes with such a set design could not compete with the number of movie theaters. These were the motives for the first "sound" Czech film and I liked the result. With musical accompaniment, of course.

I would liken this oldest surviving peasant drama to the golden era of this genre in the second half of the 1930s, although at the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire everything was still very different. Antonín Pech's films, along with the works of ASUM and Kříženecký, are among the most significant examples of how filmmaking was actually done in the Czech lands. This particular generation may not have developed their film careers significantly after the war, but there is no question that they all deserve our almost sacred respect. Without them, the Czechs would have nothing to build on, and in the years to come, other pioneers would not succumb to the magic of celluloid.

This film is a rare example of one of the first Czech comedies. And amazingly, it's actually really good! :) It’s quite simple when compared to Linder, but still very effective. I wish Longen had had a longer series.

The film fits in the context of a genre-related film - then and now, Angel Devil is a much more interesting film. Nevertheless, Insane Cancan is still worth a look, among other things because of the very similar cast to Angel Devil and the interesting Austrian scenery (which was probably the responsibility of the second director Hannes Zell).