The Lovers of an Old Criminal

Summary

Svatopluk Innemann (1896-1945), one of the most successful and prolific Czech comedy writers of the 1920s and early 1930s, made his silent comedy The Lovers of an Old Criminal (1927) based on a theme and script by Josef Skružný, with whom he often collaborated. Both skillfully used tried and tested schemes and clichés to create an easy–going piece, based on situational comedy and sometimes even gags or chases like from an American slapstick. The seemingly complex plot benefits from popular confusions and the doppelganger motive. – Pardon, a factory worker, in love with an unknown girl, bribes his uncle Pondělíček to impersonate him and to discourage his bride Fifi, because he is in love with the charming Olga. However, things get properly complicated as Pondělíček has a double, the dreaded robber Kanibal. – The plots build up one after another, and there are many of them. The film is of course dominated by Vlasta Burian in a double role, and by the star Anna Ondráková as the emancipated, mischievous, and foolish Fifi. The film is introduced by witty opening credits with caricatures of the filmmakers, some intertitles rhyme. Noteworthy sequences include among others the well-filmed car rides, and the sequence in which Pondělíček imagines how he, as Kanibal, got rid of his mistresses (by the eminent cinematographer Otto Heller). The filmmakers do not avoid the semi-sophisticated fantasy elements (connected with tricks) that are supposed to enliven the narrative. Elmar Klos was also involved in inventing some of the situations and gags. Josef Skružný was an admirer of his great-aunt, Klos referred to him as "uncle" and helped him with writing the scripts. – The National Film Archive carried out a technically and time-consuming reconstruction of the film, including the colour toning according to the original prints, which was carried out in a unique method worldwide, without the need to cut and re-join the film strip. When the film was restored in 2015, it was screened in various formats and with live accompaniment by the Neuvěřitelno trio, which composed the music. Attached to the film is a five-minute long promotial film, The Robber.

Synopsis

Note

In 2008 the film was reconstructed by the National Film Archive Prague.