Case for a Rookie Hangman

  • 100'
  • Czechoslovakia
  • 1969
is inspired by Swift's third book from Gulliver's Travels. Gulliver comes to the mysterious country Balnibahri after meeting a rabbit with a pocket watch. The inscription on the watch introduces him to this wonderful world, the capital of which, Laputa, floats above the ground. Thanks to the watch he gets through to the government. While the people of Laputa think they are ruled by a real king, the man in question turns out to have been working as a porter at the Carlton Hotel in Monte Carlo for twelve years. Gulliver has to promise to keep this secret to himself. Of course he lets it slip out and ends up being hunted. A village idiot helps Gulliver leave the country. The film resists inclusion in a genre: there are elements of slapstick, surrealism and satire; it is a utopian political film and a fairy-tale at the same time. However the references to political reality in can hardly be misunderstood and explain why it was not screened for years in Czechoslovakia.
  • 100'
  • Czechoslovakia
  • 1969
Director
Pavel Jurácek
Country of production
Czechoslovakia
Year
1969
Festival Edition
IFFR 1995
Length
100'
Medium
35mm
Original title
Pripad pro zacinajiciho kata
Language
Czech
Producer
AB Barrandov
Screenplay
Pavel Jurácek
Director
Pavel Jurácek
Country of production
Czechoslovakia
Year
1969
Festival Edition
IFFR 1995
Length
100'
Medium
35mm
Original title
Pripad pro zacinajiciho kata
Language
Czech
Producer
AB Barrandov
Screenplay
Pavel Jurácek