Summary
Author Josef Škvorecký had several of his works adapted into films during the 1960s. Viewer anticipation was greatest for the adaptations of his detective stories, primarily those featuring the “sad” lieutenant Borůvka: besides appearing in director Jiří Menzel’s Zločin v dívčí škole (The Crime at the Girl’s School, 1965), the Czech version of G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown also turns up in this 1969 detective comedy from director Ladislav Rychman. Borůvka refuses to investigate the theft of a rare magical 11th century publication, because his professional expertise is in homicide. But the subsequent disappearance of Professor Zajíc, who was working to decipher the manuscript, moves the lieutenant to enter the depths of the archives and learn of the strange practices of those who work within it. This light-hearted film once again sees Lubomír Lipský in the role of Borůvka. Singer and occasional actress Olga Blechová plays one of the six library archive workers.
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