Hori ma panenko
Czechoslovakia,
1967, 73 min
Shown in 1968 / 2004
CREDITS
- dir
-
Milos Forman
- scr
-
Milos Forman, Ivan Passer, Jaroslav Papousek
- cam
-
Miroslav Ondrick
- cast
-
Vaclav Stockel, Josef Svet, Jan Vostrcil, Josef Kolb, Marie Jezkova
- prod co
-
Barrandov Studios
- source
-
Cinema V. Distributing, Inc.
-
COMMENTS
Screened as part of a retrospective honoring Film Society Directing Award recipient Milos Forman in 2004.
OTHER
The famous Czech director Milos Forman (Loves of a Blonde) once spent some time writing in a small mountain town, where he visited a ball that was given by the local fire brigade. What he saw there left such an indelible impression upon him that he decided to make this the basis for his next film. Here is a jubilant comedy of errors: The firemen, all rather elderly, are carried away by the fun atmosphere of their party and the titillating prospect of handling, figuratively and physically, the entrants in a beauty queen contest. They forget the people whose house catches fire during the ball, and tend to neglect honoring their old commander who was to have been awarded an honorary trophy for his 40-year service. Forman has collected a wonderful batch of human beings, with every face illustrating the varied moods and experiences of Czechoslovak living—he offers us a true-to-life, non-glamorous perception of people in hilarious situations. This is really a document of a non-triumphal ball, where the spectator is given the position of amused omniscience, and the actors are nonprofessional and ingeniously correct. As the ball progresses, one is able to wander from event to event, climaxed by a confrontation with some of the most pathetic nonbeauties ever gathered together to win the Miss Vrchlabi prize. The Fireman's Ball is another in the recent tradition of exquisite Czech social comedies to reach our receptive shores.
—Albert Johnson
FACTOID #177
In 2000 animator Faith Hubley was the recipient of the Persistence of Vision Award. One year later, her daughter Emily appeared at the Festival with her bandmates, Yo La Tengo, to perform a score accompanying the silent underwater films of Jean Painlevé.
