Now 51 years old, it nevertheless stands up well. The story is clear at one level at least. A zealous and incorruptible auditor (presumably working in a Czech government department) discovers discrepancies in a shop's stock of (expensive imported) spirits amounting to in current terms to perhaps tens of thousands of Pounds. It is for him a very serious matter, and despite attempts by his supervisor to persuade him otherwise, he insists that an example needs to be made of whoever is responsible. (His incorruptibility and devotion to duty is made clear in the coffee spilling incident). James Booth (the shop manager) reprises the character he played in Zulu - but minus any redeeming features. The auditor's actions set in motion an almost inevitable - given the characters - tragic sequence of events. His punctilious bureaucratic existence is for the first time halted in its tracks by the realisation that he has witnessed an altogether more serious crime - hideous villainy that demands justice. The extremely impassive performance of the auditor is effective in forcing the audience to imagine his inner feeling as we understand something of his unhappy marriage and the effect of proximity to a most lovely (Anne Heywood) and loving - and wronged - woman. That he resembles a typical East European official of those times is undermined by his avuncular and entirely human older junior (well played by Donald Wolfitt). On that subject, given the politics of those times, one wonders if a larger point is being made by the film - is it allegorical? One supposes so but that would have been more evident at the time of making than it is now. But as an unusual British film apparently shot entirely on location (in Prague) and a well played tragic human story, it deserves wider viewing.
The dubbing is rather distracting - the cast is mixed British and Czech. The frequent flashbacks too seem rather clunky. Perhaps these are some of things film makers progressed beyond since 1965
Many thanks - once again - to Talking Pictures for unearthing this worthy, very watchable but almost unseen British film. They put other channels to shame.
The dubbing is rather distracting - the cast is mixed British and Czech. The frequent flashbacks too seem rather clunky. Perhaps these are some of things film makers progressed beyond since 1965
Many thanks - once again - to Talking Pictures for unearthing this worthy, very watchable but almost unseen British film. They put other channels to shame.