#145: FORMAN, Miloś: The Firemen's Ball (1967)

-
FORMAN, Miloś (Czechoslovakia)
The Firemen's Ball [1967]
Spine #145
DVD
OOP


A milestone of the Czech New Wave, Miloś Forman's first color film The Firemen’s Ball (Hori, má panenko) is both a dazzling comedy and a provocative political satire. A hilarious saga of good intentions confounded, the story chronicles a firemen's ball where nothing goes right — from a beauty pageant whose reluctant participants embarrass the organizers to a lottery from which nearly all the prizes are pilfered. Presumed to be a commentary on the floundering Czech leadership, the film was "banned forever" in Czechoslovakia following the Russian invasion and prompted Forman's move to America.

73 minutes
Color
Monaural
in Czech
1:33:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2002
Director/Writers


Screenplay/Story by Miloś Forman, Jaroslav Papoušek and Ivan Passer.
Screenwriter credit: Vàclav Šašek.
Forman was 35 when he directed The Firemen's Ball.

Other Forman films in the Collection:

#144: Loves Of A Blonde (1965)

The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Six-page wraparound featuring an essay by J. Hoberman.

Commentary

None.

Video interview

With director Forman.

A behind-the-scenes

Look at the transfer process, featuring cinematographer Miroslav Ondricek and comments from Forman.
Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Complete Criterion Collection By Spine #

-
The Complete Criterion Collection By Spine # 0000A: No spine #: Ingmar Bergman's Cinema (BERGMAN, Ingmar) [1946-2003] {Sweden} Crisis [1946] A Ship To India [1947] Port Of Call [1948] Thirst [1949] To Joy [1950] Summer Interlude [1951] Waiting Women [1952] Sawdust And Tinsel [1953]  [ 89 ] Summer With Monika [1953] A Lesson In Love [1954] Dreams [1955] Smiles Of A Summer Night [1955] The Seventh Seal [1957] Wild Strawberries [1957]  [ 93 ] Brink Of Life [1958] The Magician [1958] The Devil's Eye [1960] The Virgin Spring [1960] Through A Glass Darkly [1961] The Silence [1963] Winter Light [1963] All These Women [1964] Persona [1966]  [ 94 ] Hour Of The Wolf [1968] Shame [1968] The Passion Of Anna [1969] The Rite [1969] Fårö Document [1970] The Touch [1971] Cries And Whispers [1972] Scenes From A Marriage [1973] The Magic Flute [1975] The Serpent's Egg [1977] Autumn Sonata [1978] Fårö Document 1979 [1979] From The Life Of The Marionette...
Read more

#331: OZU, Yasujiro: Late Spring (1949)

-
Image
OZU, Yasujiro (Japan) Late Spring [1949] Spine #331 DVD One of the most powerful of Yasujiro Ozu's family portraits, Late Spring (Banshun) tells the story of a widowed father who feels compelled to marry off his beloved only daughter. Eminent Ozu players Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara command this poignant tale of love and loss in postwar Japan, which remains as potent today as ever — almost alone justifying Ozu's inclusion in the pantheon of cinema's greatest directors. 108 minutes Black & White Monaural in Japanese 1:33:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2006 Director/Writers Based on the novel Chichi to musume (Father and Daughter) by Kazuo Hirotsu . Script by Kogo Noda and  Yasujiro Ozu . Ozu was 46 when he directed Late Spring . Other Ozu films in the Collection: Eclipse Series 42: Walk Cheerfully (1930) Eclipse Series 42: That Night's Wife (1930) Eclipse Series 10: Tokyo Chorus (1931) Eclipse Series 10: I Was Born, But . . . (1932) Ec...
Read more

#589: KIEŚLOWSKI, Krzysztof: Three Colors: White (1994)

-
Image
THREE COLORS {Spine #587} KIEŚLOWSKI, Krzysztof (France) Three Colors: White [1994] Spine #589 Blu-ray The most plalyful and also the grittiest of Krzysztof Kieślowski's Three Colors films follows the adventures of Karol Karol, a Polish immigrant living in France. The hapless hairdresser opts to leave Paris for his native Warsaw when his wife sues him for divorce (her reason: their marriage was never consummated) and then frames him for arson after setting her own salon ablaze. White , which goes on to chronicle Karol Karol's elaborate revenge plot, manages to be both a ticklish dark comedy about the economic inequalities of Eastern and Western Europe and a sublime reverie on twisted love. 91 minutes Color 2.0 Surround in French and Polish 1:85:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2011 Director/Writers Screenplay by Krzysztof Piesiewicz and  Krzysztof Kieślowski . Kie ś lowski was 52 when he directed  White . ** K ie ś lowski ’s earliest films were docu...
Read more