Nostalgia Kinky

A Deaf Crocodile Blu-ray, available from MVD, which I recently added to my collection, Prague Nights (1969) is an anthology project connected to the Czech New Wave. Directed by three distinct filmmakers, with nearly half a dozen writers contributing to the script, Prague Nights is a fitful film filled with creativity and mysticism. Deaf Crocodile’s release offers up a rare opportunity to see an English-subtitled print of this underseen work, and the disc adds on valuable extras as well.

While this 1969 anthology film has many hands involved in its creation, the chief behind it is artist and director Jiří Brdečka. Most well-known as an acclaimed animator and the screenwriter behind Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet (1978), Brdečka was a fairly active filmmaker with well over three dozen films to his credit. Brdečka’s work on Prague Nights is notable for just how different it is from the majority of his large filmography.

Brdečka is responsible for the best of the film’s four sections, as his “The Last Golem” proves extremely effective. Containing some striking practical special effects and packed with religious imagery and folklore, “The Last Golem” is a memorable short, well-shot and performed. It sets Prague Nights off in a very good direction, sadly the remaining portions of the film fail to live up.

The film’s second segment, “Bread Slippers”, proves to be the least captivating short here, as well as the longest. Evald Schorm directs this rather weak little 18th-century set tale starring Teresa Tuszynska as a countess and Jana Břežková as her entrancing chambermaid. Considering the pedigree of the cast and Schorm’s stature as a leading light of the Czech New Wave, it is surprising this section isn’t a highlight of the film. Whereas “The Last Golem” felt focused and aware of its brevity, “Bread Slippers” meanders far too much, ultimately, for me at least, just drifting away.

Milos Makovec directs the film’s final chapter and wraparound. Known as a director involved with the popular Czech post-war film The Emperor’s Nightingale (1949), Makovec’s main contribution here, “Poisoned Poisoner” is a fairly effective short filled with magic and music. It’s mostly fun. Less successful is his other contribution, a sepia-toned modern-day outing that operates as a less than satisyfying opening and conclusion to the film.

According to the lengthy essay by Tereza Brdečka that comes with Deaf Crocodile’s release, Brdečka “considered the Prague Nights a failure and preferred to forget about it.” While the film doesn’t quite measure up to the rather staggering number of Czech classics appearing in this period, “The Last Golem” alone deserves remembering, and Deaf Crocodile has done their usual splendid job with this Blu-ray. They offer up a nice presentation of the film, featuring a great commentary from Tereza Brdečka and Czech film expert Irena Kovarova, and an interview with Brdečka as well, discussing her father’s career.

Two short Brdečka animated films are thankfully included as well, and they prove to be the highlight of the disc to my eyes. 1968’s Revenge is a strange and stark short filled with surreal imagery. Based on a literary work from the French Romantic period by Gérard de Nerval, Revenge is a twisted little ‘Never bet the Devil Your head” type tale, and it’s a fascinating watch.

The major high point is Brdečka’s There Was A Miller On A River (1971), a remarkable short film, masterfully told mixing live-action, animation, and painting. An eerie and powerful mini-masterpiece featuring a startling score by Jiří Kolafa, There Was A Miller on A River is a knockout. Featuring traces of Borowczyk and Lenica, this haunting familicide-themed tale is riveting and worth the price of the Prague Nights disc just on its own.
Quality stuff. A real, proper short film for the ages.

Anthology films almost always inevitably feel like a ‘mixed-bag’ and that’s certainly the case with Prague Nights. Still, the film has enough highlights and Deaf Crocodile’s disc has enough top extras to make this a real winner of a release.

-Jeremy Richey, May 2026-