Summary
This co-produced children’s film from East German director Egon Schlegel remains a curiosity when it comes to Czech productions of the seventies. The film was inspired by Werner Bender’s book Mystery Trade Fair 1999. The protagonist of this fantastic narrative is Frantík Prokop, a small Czech boy who meets a strange man on a train ride to Germany. With the help of his German friend Egon, the boy finds out that it is a robot that is to be displayed in Leipzig at the trade fair. The main character to remain from the literary original was the robot Blasia, who is brought to life in the film by Leoš Suchařípa with his typical, expressive manner (although Miloš Kopecký provides the voice). In the role of Frantík we are introduced to the child-actor Petr Starý, who played in such seventies films as Přijela k nám pouť (The Funfair Has Arrived, 1973), Páni kluci (Boys Will Be Boys, 1975) and Ať žijí duchové! (Long Live Ghosts!, 1977). In the Czech-German cast a lesser role was given to the then six year old Jakub Špalek.
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