A picture based on an old folk song tells us a horrifying story about a soldier returning home after twenty years. His parents do not recognize him, they rob and kill him.
This animated precursor to music videos was made on commission for the American company Rembrandt Films. It illustrates an American folk song of the Old West.
An agitprop piece lampooning a perceived blemish on contemporary society — short notices in shop windows offering a pithy explanation of why the shop is closed.
After the flying machines of "How Man Learned to Fly," this next popular science installment by Jiří Brdečka focuses on the history of submarines and deep sea exploration, denouncing the arms industry along the way, as the politics of the day required.
Another one of Brdečka's variations on the topic of love, with unusual protagonists: a spider and a destitute poet who live in friendship in one room, until a girl turns up with whom the man falls in love. Overnight, the spider weaves a delicate pair of stockings for her, but earns no gratitude.
An ironic anecdote about a fortune-teller perplexed by her customer who laughs at her reading of his palm. According to her, the man is to become a helpless servant. The surprise ending reveals the reason why the customer laughed.
A combined film, or rather personal profile, in which the naive paintings of quirky comedian and self-taught painter Josef Hlinomaze are brought to life, accompanied by the protagonist's humorous commentary.
Reason and Emotion, personified as two gardeners, are opponents in a landscaping contest (French formal garden vs. English landscape park), but inevitably end up cooperating.
An absurd slapstick piece about a man immersed in his own dreams, refusing to accept everyday reality. He finds everyone obnoxious, children and lovers not excepted, and decides to fly off to the planet of his dreams. He turns into a spaceship and manages to land on "his" star — only to find a...
This original adaptation of Oscar Wilde's sad, socially conscious fairy tale, The Happy Prince, hinges on the conflict between fact and dream, reality and poetry. The contrast is reinforced by the film's visuals, confronting modern art with Gustave Doré's old engravings.
