Summary
A musical comedy about a young man who finds himself in conflict with the Devil. Very loosely inspired by a novel of the same name by French author Alain-René Lesage, this bizarre but gripping tale from 1968 was directed by Juraj Herz, who also served as screenwriter and star. But the hero of the story is young Honza Novák (Václav Neckář), who is deeply in love with Zuzana (Jana Šulcová). The lecherous satyr Asmodej (Herz) tries in vain to persuade our naive protagonist that love is merely a foolish whim. The episodic tale plays with various historical eras and stylised period settings. But even during preproduction, Kulhavý ďábel (The Limping Devil) found itself falling victim to a new tighter regime introduced by the censor. Sadly, this had a profound impact on the final outcome. In 1968, Herz found solace by bringing to cinemas a far more uncompromising and personal triumph, namely Spalovač mrtvol (The Cremator).
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