9.  Jiří Menzel: Closely Watched Trains (Ostře sledované vlaky, 1966).



Screenplay: Jiří Menzel and Bohumil Hrabal, based on a novel by Bohumil Hrabal. Director of
photography: Jaromír Šofr. Editor: Jiřina Lukešová. Music: Jiří Šust. Cast: Václav Neckář (Miloš
Hrma), Jitka Benclová (Máša), Vladimír Valenta (Stationmaster), Libuše Havelková (his wife), Josef
Somr (Hubička), Jitka Zelenohorská (Zdenička), Vlastimil Brodský (Zedníček), Květa Fialová (The
Countess), Naďa Urbánková (Victoria Freie), Jiří Menzel (doctor). 95 min.



Film and theatre director and actor Jiří Menzel took a short novel from Bohumil Hrabal for his
debut as a director. The power of this tragicomedy consists in the combination of the action story
about the resistance movement against German occupation during World War II, and a very personal
love story about the first erotic experience of a young man. The role of Miloš Hrma is played by
the popular singer Václav Neckář. The film won an Academy Award in 1968 as the best foreign film.
Jiří Menzel has adopted other works by Bohumil Hrabal:  The Death of Mr. Balthasar (in the film
entitled Pearls of the Deep – Perličky na dně, 1965), Larks on a String – Skřivánci na niti
(1969-1990), Short Cut – Postřižiny (1980), The Snowdrop Festival – Slavnosti sněženek (1983). His
other films include Capricious Summer – Rozmarné léto (1967), from the novel of the same name by
Vladislav Vančura, and The Beggar´s Opera – Žebrácká opera (1991), from a stage version of John
Gay’s original play by Václav Havel.



Assigned literature


Hames, Peter. The Czechoslovak New Wave. “Jiří Menzel”