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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – Otis Turner (1910)
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Continue reading →: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – Otis Turner (1910)L. Frank Baum, the creator of the Oz saga, made an early attempt to bring his stories to the screen with the stage-and-film hybrid The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays (1908). The project failed to win over audiences and ultimately led Baum to bankruptcy, forcing him to sell the film rights to…
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Tonka of the Gallows (Tonka Šibenice) – Karl Anton (1930)
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Continue reading →: Tonka of the Gallows (Tonka Šibenice) – Karl Anton (1930)Throughout our long journey into Czech silent cinema, we’ve repeatedly encountered a rich vein of films devoted to society’s outcasts and their bleak, often devastating lives. Very often these stories revolve around characters from the countryside who are swallowed by the harshness of the city, trapped in vice, poverty, and…
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Continue reading →: Vendelin’s Purgatory and Paradise (Vendelínův očistec a ráj) – Přemysl Pražský (1930)Vendelínův očistec a ráj stages the lively and often chaotic misadventures of the Žemlička family and their determined efforts to push their daughter Amálka (Máňa Ženíšková) into marrying Vendelín Hrom (Jiří Hron). Vendelín soon discovers—very much to his own detriment—the intrusiveness and boundless enthusiasm of the family of the woman…
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Such Is Life (Takový je život) – Carl Junghans (1930)
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Continue reading →: Such Is Life (Takový je život) – Carl Junghans (1930)With Takový je život we stand at the very twilight of Czech silent cinema, a film that opens the door to the sound era in one of the most compelling ways imaginable. Loosely inspired by Émile Zola’s La curée, German director Carl Junghans sought to bring to the screen the…
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Colonel Švec (Plukovník Švec) – Svatopluk Innemann (1930)
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Continue reading →: Colonel Švec (Plukovník Švec) – Svatopluk Innemann (1930)Earlier this week I wrote about the propagandistic Za československý stát (1928), a film centered on the Czechoslovak Legion. Today’s title, Plukovník Švec, covers similar ground but is far more accomplished—better structured, more mature, and simply more compelling to watch. Directed by Svatopluk Innemann and based on the play by…
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Armoured Car (Pancéřové auto) – Rolf Randolf (1930)
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Continue reading →: Armoured Car (Pancéřové auto) – Rolf Randolf (1930)We’ve come to know the American brand of action films—think Harry Houdini or Charles Hutchison—and Pancéřové auto, which has very little that’s genuinely Czech aside from a few Prague backdrops, could easily pass for one of them. It has all the ingredients: fistfights, stunts, Americanized names… and occasionally, if you…
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Continue reading →: The Organist at St. Vitus’ Cathedral (Varhaník u sv. Víta) – Martin Frič (1929)This film is inspired by a short story by Vítězslav Nezval, a prolific author whose works often carried a strong sense of national pride. At its center is St. Vitus Cathedral and its great organ, whose music marks the rhythm of Prague’s daily life. Since the Cathedral is one of…
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St. Wenceslas (Svatý Václav) – Jan S. Kolár (1929)
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Continue reading →: St. Wenceslas (Svatý Václav) – Jan S. Kolár (1929)Throughout this series, we’ve seen how many early Czech productions were devoted to national figures—heroes and saints who could embody the country’s identity and, not least, serve propagandistic purposes. It comes as no surprise, then, that among these films we find one dedicated to Saint Wenceslas, Duke of Bohemia, whose…
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Father Vojtěch (Páter Vojtěch) – Martin Frič (1928)
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Continue reading →: Father Vojtěch (Páter Vojtěch) – Martin Frič (1928)With Páter Vojtěch we return to the kind of drama I most enjoy, and I must say that despite its religious framework, I was pleasantly surprised by the film. We recently discussed Otec Sergij, centered on a man of faith battling temptation, and while Frič’s film shares some similarities, the…
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Erotikon – Gustav Machatý (1929)
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Continue reading →: Erotikon – Gustav Machatý (1929)Often hailed as the masterpiece of Czech silent cinema, Erotikon did not disappoint me in the slightest. While the story itself might not strike one as particularly original, what makes the film extraordinary is the way it is shot and the depth with which the actors inhabit their characters. Standing…
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