Horí, má panenko (1967)

Director:

Milos Forman

Writers:

Milos Forman (screenplay)
Jaroslav Papousek (screenplay)

Release Date:

29 September 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

A Masterpiece from Czechoslovakia

Plot:

The fire department in a small town is having a big party when the ex-boss of the department celebrates his 86th birthday...

Plot Keywords:

Beauty Contest | Party

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Jan Vostrcil	...	Head of Committee
Josef Sebánek	...	Committee Member #2
Josef Valnoha	...	Committee Member
Frantisek Debelka	...	Committee Member #1
Josef Kolb	...	Josef
Jan Stöckl	...	Retired Fire Chief
Vratislav Cermák	...	Committee Member
Josef Rehorek	...	Committee Member #4
Václav Novotný	...	Committee Member
Frantisek Reinstein	...	Committee Member
Frantisek Paska	...	Committee Member
Stanislav Holubec	...	Karel
Josef Kutálek	...	Ludva
Frantisek Svet	...	Old Man
Ladislav Adam	...	Committee Member

Also Known As:

Al fuoco pompieri! (Italy) (alternative title)
Fuoco, ragazza mia (Italy)
Hoří, má panenko (Czechoslovakia: Czech title)
Like a House on Fire
The Fireman's Ball (UK)
The Firemen's Ball (USA)
The Firemen's Ball and Lottery (USA) (DVD title)

Runtime:

71 min

Country:

Czechoslovakia | Italy

Language:

Czech

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:U (original rating) | France:U | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:S | Sweden:11 | West Germany:6

Company:

Carlo Ponti Cinematografica

Trivia:

Banned in 1968 by the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Simpsons Movie (2007)

not bad but.....

I rather enjoyed parts of this film, but I was also a bit lost at times & I guess to fully appreciate this one would have to understand the time and the place. And the society. This takes place in Communist Czechoslavakia in the mid-60's, and it's a rather chaotic celebration to honor an elderly and retiring fire chief. There is a table of raffle prizes that all keep disappearing, and even the people that are guarding the prizes seem to be pilfering them. There is an ersatz beauty contest with plenty of rather questionable beauties, and a bumbling but well intentioned fire brigade who is trying to run this whole thing. There seems to be one calamitous incident after another, including a fire in which an old man loses his house, that the fire brigade must leave the party to go battle. They bring the old man back to the shelter of the hall in which they are celebrating, to pass the hat and collect all the raffle tickets, and of course by now nothing is left on the table. The clincher is when they present the retiring fire chief with his gift, but when he opens the box it's empty and he stoically thanks them. This film was apparently banned by the Czech government for its commentary and in order to understand why it was banned I guess one would have to be familiar with what was being made fun of. And that's where I got lost. But, overall this is a rather amusing and charming little film, there's just elements of it that are lost on me. 7 out of 10.