Summary
Playwright Oldřich Daněk has several screenplays and directorial ventures to his credit, with the works often connected to his theatrical plays. He himself has called Lov na mamuta (The Mammoth Hunt), the 1964 screen adaptation of the eponymous play, an improbable musical and half-slapstick comedy. The motion picture is an absurdist tale that takes place in a cybernetic super-machine research institution. An ardent young man who says he is the inventor of a machine for predicting dates of death is hired. However, it turns out that he’s made it all up, simply to land the job. The situation tempts the scheming head of research to get shot of the director, whose place he would like to usurp. Lubomír Lipský, Miloš Kopecký and Josef Kemr all star in this lopsided tale, while singers Eva Pilarová and Josef Zíma also make cameo appearances. The narrative is enhanced by dance sequences and even by documentary shots which have nothing to do with the plot.
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