Bohumil Šmída

Sherlock Holmes likes to play violin and expects a great career in music. He gets a place in a spa orchestra, but he is again and again distracted by criminal cases. Therefore he is the only one who does not see that his violin has no future. He solves the criminal mysteries in passing but the final test shows that the famous detective is tone-deaf.

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During World War II, a German university professor creates a spy ring that supplies the Allies with information about Nazi plans...

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In Vražda v hotelu Excelsior, the interwar period homicide detective squad from Prague investigates the murder of a wealthy woman, Mrs Matoušová, which threatens the reputation of the eponymous luxury hotel popular with Prague’s elite. Even the retired police inspector Mrázek (František Filipovský), who works at the Excelsior as a hotel detective, is unable to help at first. Although the investigation inevitably uncovers the hotel staff’s scheming, Vacátko and his team unerringly follow the trail that leads them to the murderer…

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In a suburban villa, a woman of means is murdered. Police Superintendent Zdychynec from the Prague Liben neighborhood reports the case to Police Councilman Vacátko, upon whose order an investigation is launched immediately. Zdychynec begins to suspect the wooer of his own daughter, a handsome dragoon named Rudi, of the crime. In Rudi's absence, Zdychynec searches his rented room in the apartment of the elegant Mrs Dragicová. All his findings - among others, sand left on Rudi's jackboots and a decent amount of money in his bedside table - convince the superintendent that he is following the right lead, especially when Rudi refuses to say where he was at the time of the murder.

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The story of a first love disappointment. Sensitive Lenka finds it very difficult to overcome the unsuccessful course of her meeting with a boy for whom she felt more than sympathy...

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Marek (Jirí Holý), formerly a driver of a long-distance lorry, has served his term for smuggling art works abroad and is released from jail. Years ago, he sacrificed himself and confessed his guilt on behalf of his companions - the drivers Krása, Jelínek, Hess and Novák from the Ministry of Culture who gave them tips. Marek finds Hess and tells him that now he expects the gang to compensate him for the wasted years of his life.

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In the morning twilight of Prague, the dead body of the safe-breaker Toufar is found floating on the river Vltava with a knife in his back. Police inspectors visit Toufar's lover, the prostitute Anna Kulatá (Jirina Bohdalová), nicknamed Umbrella, and it is apparent that the moment before she opened the door of her flat, someone fled through the window. Umbrella is summoned for examination to the head of the criminal police - Police Councilman Vacátko Jaroslav Marvan, but although shocked by the photograph of the dead man, she does not confess to anything. Before Toufar, Umbrella lived with the safe-breaker Penicka (Radoslav Brzobohatý), who loved her very much and made her quit her street trade. But when he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, Umbrella began to live with the brute Toufar, who chased her to street again. In the case of the murder, Penicka is therefore the prime suspect.

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A fisherman saves Anada, a woman adrift, from drowning. He takes her to his home, and protects her. Eventually, she occupies a larger place than was to be expected. He commits adultery with her, but his own wife seems to be in love with the strange young woman.

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The photographer and his wife, a former beauty queen, make a living casting death masks. But their obsession goes so far that they decide to cast the face of a living person.

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In the Prague Old Town and the adjoining streets there is always plenty of life. Housewives shop, beggars arouse sympathy, the Salvation Army tries to put the godless on the road to salvation by hymns and sermons, and Ferdys Pistora hunts in the pockets of his fellow men and isn't even put off by the presence of an officer of the law. Ferdys sets off to burgle villa of the banker Rosenstok, but a fire breaks out in the house and Ferdys ends up saving the banker's two small children. For this he is celebrated as a hero and gets a place as an errand boy with the Rosenstoks. At home he is visited by representatives of the Salvation Army, Captain Kosterka and Terezka, with whom Ferdys instantly falls in love.

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Three detective stories, three different views of life and death... Collection of three horror short stories.

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Black comedy about a genius inventor and two young, smart and beautiful women. Both of them putting all their effort into getting the one man. This will inevitable lead to all sorts of mischief, crime and even a murder. This murder-comedy, shot at the dawn of normalization has intentionally broke off from any connection to the reality of its time. The director Zdeněk Podskalský has focused on creating intriguing story lines, revolving around the two endeavouring female characters who are fighting for the same man. Two competing parties are not only ready to kill the other, but also (if necessary) the potential groom. This film has enabled the members of the cast, composed mainly of the brightest stars of the Czech acting scene of that time, to show an incredible acting range, from the lightest comedy to the darkest cynical morbidity.

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An escort composed of three people transports a huge amount of new one-hundred crown banknotes in a special railway car. At the 196th kilometer, a village girl is waiting at the railway crossing and spots two men removing some packages from the track. The scene is immediately followed by the report of a gun and the unwanted witness is shot dead. Soon afterwards, on the 201st kilometer, the train explodes. Only one of the escorts Lenk (Radoslav Brzobohatý) survives the explosion, taken to hospital with serious injuries. Criminologist Major Kalas (Jirí Sovák) and the very young Second Lieutenant Karlícek (Jaromír Hanzlík) patiently gather facts, leads and testimonies.

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The shoemaker, Lájošek Cína, is a naive good-for-nothing with his heart on his sleeve, who, as the day grows long, never leaves his shop, where he also sleeps, and his only company is a small stray kitten. One day he is approached by a peculiar truck driver, Martin, who immediately adopts Lájošek as his new driver and becomes his life guide with a plan to rebuild his peaceful life from the ground up. In the Žižkov colony at Krejcárk he meets the charming Magda, with whom Lájošek falls in love and begins to live with her and her four children. Soon after, they are expecting their own and their life would seem ideal, but every happiness comes at a price...

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An attractive and challenging 16-year-old girl has no shortage of admirers, but she becomes the cause of a small-town problem when she accuses her charming uncle of rape after trying in vain to seduce him. The bitter comedy, the only film directed by actor Václav Lohnisky, relies on the lively acting of both Vladimír Menšík as the eloquent uncle and Lucie Žulová as the mischievous seductress.

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Who wouldn't want to return to the limelight? Years ago, actress Slávka Hradilová was a movie star. Today, she is approaching 60 and the most she does is appear in commercials. But she still keeps in shape. She regularly meets with friends to help them solve their problems, enjoys her teenage granddaughter, but above all she longs to get a big role in front of the movie camera again. When one day she gets an offer with a script in hand, she beams and heads to the studios where she was once almost a queen. But it turns out that times have changed, and today's directors want something different from actors than routine gestures and flashy facial expressions. So the former star is in for a profound disappointment...

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The lives of 7 friends in a small Czech town from 1945 to some time after 1958.

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Françoise, a French sociology student, moves to Czechoslovakia to write her thesis. She falls in love with Pavel, a professor. But the events of the "Prague Spring" begin and Pavel decides to collaborate. Françoise returns to France and meets up with her militant friends on the eve of the events of May 68 in Paris.

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In the 1950s, Ludvik Jahn was expelled from the Communist Party and the University by his fellow students, because of a politically incorrect note he sent to his girlfriend. Fifteen years later, he tries to get his revenge by seducing Helena, the wife of one of his accusers.

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The Ronov castle has been changed into a hotel, offering stylish facilities to its guests: weddings in the torture chamber, a Black Lancer kidnapping brides, a night's lodging in a family tomb etc. The reformed petty swindler Felix Pacínek (Bohumil Smída) runs the hotel. The business is far from thriving; the place is half-empty, and the jazz band Skeleton, together with their singer Zuzanka (Jaroslava Obermaierová), decide to leave. Nobody in the hotel has any idea that the band is in fact a gang of thieves who have just robbed the Prague State Bank, taking two million crowns from its vaults.

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The inhabitants of a picturesque village proud of its ancient linden tree will be disturbed by a disturbing event - a temporary road diversion is supposed to lead through the village. At first the population protests against the increased traffic, but eventually gets used to the bustle and excitement. Some, such as the innkeeper, benefit from the situation...

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Middle-aged Antonin and his friends, the major, now retired, and the canon, are in the river, swimming and philosophizing. Then it starts to rain. It just seems to be that sort of summer. Antonin runs the swimming bath with his portly wife Katherine... A man appears with his horse-drawn caravan. He lays a striped pole across the river and walks over. With a handstand and a magic trick, Ernie the Conjuror invites everyone to that evening's performance... Ernie is a tightrope walker of only modest skill, but with a slim and beautiful assistant, Anna. Antonin speaks to her. The two spend the night in the change room by the river, Antonin massaging her feet all night long. Katherine decides to move into the caravan with Ernie. But now the major and even the canon sense Anna's attractiveness...

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The drama offers Arnošt Pánek, chairman of the National Committee, as the protagonist of the story. Pánek is disturbed by news of the arrest of his protégé Kvasil – chairman of a JZD agricultural cooperative in the nearby village of Spádová. He is responsible for the revival of a neglected village, but is now accused of theft, fraud, and – on top of that – the rape of an under-aged girl.

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Pacific Island - 1945. Five American soldiers were sent to reconnoiter the Japanese rear. Surrounded by unpredictable jungle and terrible heat, they have been moving in unknown territory for over two weeks in order to find the enemy. Commander Grackmiller, due to the fatigue of the rest of the platoon, takes it upon himself to scout the area ahead of them, and the soldiers Smile, Burda, Tall and Rozden are to wait for him and hold position. The heat to kill, exhaustion and nervousness soon begin to take a toll on their sanity and morale. Unafraid to say anything to each other's faces, vigilance and caution are completely gone and paranoia and suspicion take over instead. After a while, strange noises start coming from the jungle, which Smile goes to investigate, and comes back pale as death...

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A dark fable set in an early 1950s Czech village, a time of Soviet-style socialism which saw the implementation of collectivized agriculture and the mass closure of monasteries and convents.

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The exemplary accountant Antonín Safránek lives his orderly life as a citizen of a small town. His wife Eliska brings up their three children and desperately tries to get by on her husband's low salary every month. At the same time, she sadly watches the luxurious life of their neighbor and other people like him who have no qualms about improving their standard of living by cheating. One day, the infallible Safránek makes a mistake in the cash clearance and there are nine one-hundred Crown bills left in the safe. An unexpected company control carried out the next day passes without problems and the account is closed. The temptation is too strong. The insufficient control enables Safránek to gradually steal one million Crowns.

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A dark comedy about a murder and its consequences presented in a backwards manner, where death is actually a rebirth. The film starts with an "execution" of the main protagonist and goes back to explore his previous actions and motivations.

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When Dr. Hahn is found murdered in the hospital’s inspection room, investigators question several suspects: his colleague and longtime lover Dr. Marie Nováková (whom he cheated on with nurse Jiřina), the nurse herself, Dr. Petera (whose career he stymied), a senile patient named Zima, and the inept clinic head. As police sift through truthful and deceptive testimonies, complex professional rivalries and personal entanglements among the hospital staff come to light.

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A lyrical story about first love, death and disappointment, based on a poem of the same title.

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Two teenage girls embark on a series of destructive pranks in which they consume and destroy the world around them.

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At the Ronov castle, the archive-keeper professor Nykl (Milos Nedbal) is searching for the lost painting The Naked Shepherdess by the famous Fragonard. Nykl is just about to disassemble the mantelpiece in the knight's hall, convinced that the painting must be hidden somewhere inside. His efforts, however, meet the strong disapproval of the castle manager, Anna Juzová (Jirina Petrovická), who knows very well where The Naked Shepherdess is. She wants to get hold of the painting herself, to emigrate and smuggle it along. In fact, Anna deals with forgeries of the most distinguished old masters, selling them abroad. The copies are made for her by the painter and restorer Maudr (Martin Ruzek) and the certificates of authenticity are issued by Anna's companion - expert Laburda (Karel Höger). One day, Anna is found murdered in front of the castle's fireplace.

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