Summary
Vlasta Burian stars in this Martin Frič comedy as a maker of musical instruments who looks like ending up in prison for insulting His Imperial Majesty. After missing out on the recognition of the Society of Sharpshooters he so covets, Anton Špelec gets blind drunk and lets his mouth off the leash. However, he decides to send his employee Kukačka behind bars in his place and secretly continues working on the ongoing contract. Naturally enough, not even Kukačka wants to go to jail, so he switches places with a vagabond who'd be happy to spend the winter at least somewhere... The farce, which takes us back to Austria-Hungary, was created in 1932 based on a play written for theatre by Emil Artur Longen, whose works had already inspired Burian's popular comedy C. a k. polní maršálek (Imperial and Royal Field Marshal, 1930). After the success of Anton Špelec, Burian and Frič went on to work together on Pobočník Jeho Výsosti (His Highness' Adjutant), Hrdina jedné noci (Hero for a Night), Tři vejce do skla (Three Eggs in a Glass), Katakomby (Catacombs), and Baron Prášil.
