The Strike

In late 19th century Czech-speaking Bohemia, oppressed workers at German-owned mines and foundries revolt against their harsh working conditions. Made shortly after World War II as Czechoslovakia was falling to communism, the film resonates in Czech resentment of the German occupation.

Anna the Proletarian

The movie describes proletarian life in the Czech Lands after World War I.

The Dogheads

Colonel Svec

The White Disease

In a country whose people have just been successfully persuaded of their superiority and the justification for military expansion by the fiery speeches of a dictator, the bacillus of a highly destructive form of leprosy has spread. It is called morbus Tshengi, or popularly „white disease“. The only one who has developed an effective cure for it is a physician of the poor named Galén. But he refuses to reveal the secret of his cure as long as the powerful destroy human lives through wars.

From My Life

Venice Film Festival 1955