Bill, Please

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1956

Production year

1956

Premiere

2 March 1956

Runtime

7 min

Category

film

Genre

satire

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionshort

Original title

Platit prosím

Czech title

Platit prosím

English title

Bill, Please

Synopsis

The director of the company Restaurants and Canteens arrives to attend a screening of a film made in various restaurants. A group of villagers come in to one of the restaurants for their lunch. The two waiters carry on chatting and ignore their customers. The head waiter finally brings them a crumpled menu, but whatever they order, he crosses off the menu and urges them to order something they do not want. In another restaurant a customer complains he has found a button in his sauce. The waiter promises to get him another portion but, once out of sight, he simply takes the button out of the food and brings back the same plate on which he has carelessly rearranged the food. Other customers are trying to pay but the staff point to the waiter with the wallet; he, however, is absorbed in watching a chess game and is neglecting his duties. The restaurant director is furious. He regards the film as a distortion of the facts and the situation depicted as a fabrication. The film director ironically points out that there really is no need to invent a situation like this.

Note

The film is taken from the occassional satirical film series Trn (Thorn).

Cast

Jiří Sovák

režisér

Theodor Pištěk

ředitel Restaurací a jídelen /RaJ/

Václav Voska

komentátor

Josef Hlinomaz

vrchní číšník

Miloš Kopecký

číšník

Miroslav Horníček

host v restauraci

František Miška

host v restauraci

Rudolf Princ

vrchní číšník

Karel Berman

jídlonoš

Commentary

Crew and creators

Production info

Original Title

Platit prosím

Czech Title

Platit prosím

English Title

Bill, Please

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

satire

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1956

Production Year

1956

Production specifications

projection approval 1956

Premiere

premiere 2 March 1956 /suitable for youths/ (kino Čas /1 týden/, Praha)

Distribution slogan

no caption

Copyright Holders

Národní filmový archiv

Technical info

Duration typology

short film

Duration in minutes

7 min

Original length in metres

190 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

black & white

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech