Directed by:
Vojtěch JasnýCinematography:
Josef VanišComposer:
Svatopluk HavelkaCast:
Walter Giller, Gitte Hænning, Juraj Herz, Václav Lohniský, Josef Hlinomaz, Vladimír Hrubý, Stanislav Litera, Jaroslav Štercl, Karel Effa, Vladimír Menšík (more)Plots(1)
The Actor's Pipe - Actor couple George and Mary are engaged to play the leading roles in the film People and Wolves. The film's action takes place in the milieu of fur hunters. George buys himself a pipe "worthy of a great actor". He gets exceedingly accustomed to his role of the jealous husband and causes problems throughout the shoot. He even beats up his film rival Poker once. The production company finally fires George and Mary. Even this is not enough to bring George back to reality and, when he finds Mary in Poker's arms, he shoots his adversary. He is sentenced to death. Before his execution, still convinced that he is taking part in a film story, he puts away his pipe so as to prevent its smoke hiding his face in the moment of death. The Lord's Pipe - On his wedding night, Lord Edward Grayton prefers his pipe filled with "straight grain", his favourite tobacco, to the charms of his young and beautiful Lady Mary. Soon after the wedding, Edward invites the young Lord William to visit their estate while he leaves for London under the pretence of an urgent business. Upon his return, he finds his wife in the arms of the dog-keeper John. The next day, the Lord announces to Lady Mary that they will make a journey around the world and sends his dearest pipe to John. The Pipe of St Hubert - Hunter Kurt must go to war. He leaves his delightful wife Elsa at home, together with his already seasoned porcelain pipe. The war goes on for a long time and it is no wonder that Elsa falls for the charms of an Italian captive, Marcello. In addition to her double bed, she offers the man her husband's pipe. Kurt's unexpected return interrupts the idyll. Marcello jumps out of the window, but what is Elsa to do with the still smoking pipe? She puts it in the mouth of the wooden figurine of St Hubert and then claims to her husband that the saint smokes. At night, she is awoken by bad conscience. She glances at the figurine and is terrified to find that Hubert is indeed puffing away at the pipe. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (2)
Three short stories, each a little different, but those who know about my penchant for comedies and silent slapstick can't be surprised I liked the first one the most. In it, for the main hero, reality and filming Men and Wolves blend together and mainly Juraj Herz has an excellent performance. The second and third short stories I didn’t enjoy that much, but they certainly aren't bad. The direction by Vojtěch Jasný is (especially in the second short story) very worldly and Svatopluk Havelka's music even more worldly.
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The Actor’s Pipe is a mockery of how Jasný imagined making a silent film. But that opening Charleston performance started off nicely. However, Lohninský's foreplay to the actors looks like a perfect outtake from a bad dream on the subject of a slander on Vladimír Slavinský. Yet here we are standing in the reconstruction of an American genre. It was supposed to be a comedy, but it turned into a parody, whose king was not Charlie Chaplin, but Juraj Herz as the lover of the lovely Gitte Hænning. The Lord's Pipe is dangerously reminiscent of the feeling of Blow-Up. However, if it's actually filmed in London, I can't argue. Later, after moving to the castle, Jana Brejchová and Vít Olmer play an absolutely exemplary rendezvous behind the back of the arrogant lord who rejected the divine Jana on their wedding night. The Pipe of St Hubert, described as a little opera in the woods, is an Alpine slapstick miniature on the theme of infidelity in the mountains, in which Vivi Bach does not have an easy time of it. Taken together, Pipes forms a triptych on the theme of infidelity and bring something better, something more current, something modern to the Czech 1960s scene with the help of Austria.
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