NinadeL

I never thought I'd be so content watching a BBC1 program based on the memoirs of a midwife in the post-war East End. But I was wrong and television changes. It's suspenseful, realistic enough, and quite informative. I'm just not too keen on the fact that from the second episode onwards, it's once again the Miranda Hart show in the background, with its futile side storyline drawing all the attention to itself. Still, I highly recommend it and I'm continuing with the other series.

This is one of the many long-missing films in the collage of Czech production of the 1930s. In its absence, we lost several things. The delightfully civil Jiřina Štěpničková, who at this time played particularly her great serious roles in other films, whose seriousness was reinforced by German versions for the possibility of wider exploitation. But alongside Ladislav Hemmer, she became the ideal lover of her time, willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of a higher feeling - despite the proclaimed progress that might encourage solitary selfish success. Hemmer fully enjoys his exceptionally large role here, which became a satisfaction after all the spicy or humorous episodes. The theme is great, and the processing is also great, but what I appreciate by far the most is the visionary overlap. The film does not end with the obligatory reconciliation of the old and the new; at the very end, Šlégl moves into a vision of the future that is truly golden and rightly deserved. I wish more such points could be offered.

I have heard that Storyteller is deceiving because no one would expect a Czech movie to work like this. The great cast is dominated as always by the excellent Geislerová (beautiful, sexy, measured, and edible), although the posters are mainly occupied by the somewhat amateur Herzigová. However, in partnership with Macháček and guided well by the director, she gives a remarkable performance, which can only be faulted for the classic imperfection of beautiful faces, namely that they cannot speak to the film. This was blamed on Lída Baarová in the early years, but the barely twenty-year-old worked on herself, while Eva is already forty and hasn't been a debutante for a long time. Storyteller looks good, works well, and evokes an atmosphere you'd want to bathe in. The environments of a crime film, a court, or a boarding school flow naturally, and the individual scenes fit together with complete naturalness. And even the likes of Linhart and Míčová lose their normal affect for the benefit of the whole. Of course, it is a joy to be reunited with Dvořák and Kroftová, who play big roles in a small space.

This film has great subject matter with unusually bad casting. I'd quite like to experience more of the decadently untamed Zurich, but if that's not possible, then there's nothing worth mentioning.

A cartoon raccoon or mouse? It all looks the same these days. While the cartoon mouse was being argued over overseas by Disney and Fleischer, in Czechoslovakia we were playing trying to make something special in co-production. However, we can agree that it's cute... It's only advertising again, anyway.

This is a beautiful creation from the Czech animation of yesteryear, but I'm a little sad that it's just a Czech paraphrase of Koko the Clown from Fleischer's Out of Inkwell series. In Fleischer's work, an adorable dog is called Bimbo. Originality was definitely not what the Czechs were after.

Despite its advertising message, the story of A Cabin Boy on Salty Water is slapstick on a high level and an inexperienced viewer might even mistake it for the original.

Of the surviving pieces and attempts at Czech animated film after 1920/5, this is the best so far. It looks like Fleischer's work, which is my favorite of all proto-animations. This one also has a great plot, humor, and gag ideas. Hermína makes every detail come alive, transforms the guitar into a mocking snake, the underwater world is no match for the Stone Age ideas of Hanna and Barbera half a century later. It’s wonderful.

... and the fat champion is...! Flour and potato dishes provide the most nutrition for the least money, but prepared with Ceres. That's the cooking fat. 100% pure coconut fat. 9000 calories per kg.

The basic premise is very appealing, but unfortunately, as the episodes roll in, it's just pure fan service. The first three seasons are dedicated to Claire and Jamie, and later a new generation comes on the scene. Then it's up to everyone if they want to follow the original Scottish story in America.