Summary
In the autumn of his professional life, screenwriter and director Karel Steklý once again drew his creative spark from true events. The result was this 1984 comedy, a light-hearted return to the era of World War Two. The story’s protagonist is Mr. Příhoda (the surname can translate as “Adventure” in Czech), a Prague antiques dealer, who before the war acquired an old cannon for a rich client. But given the onset of the German occupation, the customer refuses to take possession of the order, and Příhoda finds his life under threat. After several futile attempts at getting rid of the cannon, the terrified antiques dealer has himself bricked into the cellar of managing clerk Pilát, where, thanks to a supply of wine, he manages to make it through the war… Director Steklý turned what was a promising plot into a bizarre, yet utterly unexciting tale. In retrospect, only the performances of Vladimír Ráž (Příhoda) and Martin Růžka (Pilát) are worthy of any mention.
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