Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea (1977)

Jan is a decent, boring man, living a decent, boring life as a rocket designer. When his adventurous twin brother dies in a breakfast accident, Jan decides to impersonate him, unwittingly becoming a part of a Nazi time travel conspiracy.

Director:

Jindrich Polák

Writers:

Josef Nesvadba (story), Milos Macourek (screenplay)

Stars:

Petr Kostka, Jirí Sovák, Vladimír Mensík

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Petr Kostka	...	Jan Bures / Karel Bures
Jirí Sovák	...	Klaus Abard
Vladimír Mensík	...	Rolf Kraus
Vlastimil Brodský	...	Ing. Bauer
Marie Rosulková	...	Shirley White
Otto Simánek	...	Patrick White
Valerie Chmelová	...	Helena
Slávka Budínová	...	Kroupová
Josef Vetrovec	...	Kroupa
Zuzana Ondrouchová	...	Eva
Frantisek Vicena	...	Adolf Hitler
Marie Drahokoupilová	...	Markéta Nolová
Josef Bláha	...	Rousek
Frantisek Peterka	...	Robert Nol
Ota Sklencka	...	Dr. Kryl

Storyline

Former Nazi Klaus Abard survives to the 1990s by taking anti-aging pills. He plans to use a time travel trip to return to Germany in 1944 and present Hitler with a hydrogen bomb, so that he can win the war. Unfortunately the pilot, woman-chasing Karel Bures, dies on the morning of the trip and his earnest twin brother Jan impersonates him, without knowing about the plot. The plot goes wrong when they lose the bomb and land near Hitler's bunker in 1941, at a time that the Nazis sense victory. Bures, with two of the plotters, escape capture by the Nazis and make it back to the time machine. Bures programs the machine to return one day before they left, because he figures he can then save his brother and foil the plot.

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Plot Keywords:

time travel | twin brother | central europe | dark comedy | adolf hitler character | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance | Sci-Fi | War

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The training place for artists is on the roof of shopping mall KOTVA, built in the 70's in the city centre of Prague (as very modern building at that time)

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Quotes

Kroupa: [menacingly] See you tomorrow. And get your dentition ready.
Jan Bures: I'm sorry?
Kroupa: Teeth. Replacement denture.

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Connections

Featured in Usmevy: Úsmevy Milose Macourka (1998)

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Soundtracks

Tango Notturno
Written by Hans-Otto Borgman
Performed by Pola Negri

User Reviews

How everything could but go completely wrong when you try to help Hitler win the war

The problem is that he scalds himself with coffee. That triggers an avalanche of complications, centered around a plot to use the latest time travel technique to go back for a visit at Hitler's to present him with a recently stolen A-bomb to make him win the war, but as is commonly the case with political intrigue, things don't always turn out exactly as expected or planned.

Just to mention a few of the complexities, the pilot has a twin brother, and as one of them chokes on a roll his brother takes his place without knowing what on earth he is going for on this trip, and accidentally a few time travel tourists are booked on the same trip without knowing they will be joining some modern nazi weirdos on their venture to make Hitler win the second world war. There are many such complications, for instance, accidentally, the time travel rocket lands three years before schedule just after Pearl Harbor when Hitler stands outside Moscow and is already certain that he can't lose the war, so there is some double confusion here.

It's a brilliant tongue-in-cheek comedy all the way, and it's admirable how serious everyone remains in the middle of amounting hilarities that constantly increase in absurdity. The paralyzing pistol that turns its victims green is sensational. This is a unique science fiction comedy of refreshing self irony all the way, making fun of everything, society, bureaucracy, gangsters, Nazis and even the genre itself, while at the same time there is some serious business: the highlight is the tremendous scene with Hitler himself when he is compelled to watch documentaries from the future of the fall of his Reich with its consequences. Of course, he can't believe his eyes, and still, when he is alone, he can't resist the temptation to watch it all over again, not to gloat in it, but to try to understand what is to him absolutely impossible. This is ingenious science fiction with an intelligent psychological touch to it.

The whole film is over-intelligent, and as the complications keep towering it becomes increasingly difficult to follow the constant turnings of the bizarre events which eventually turn to some heaps of killings, but it all makes sense at least mathematically and logically, although fortunately so far it is all completely impossible - unless you believe in Stephen Hawking's persistent assertions. Maybe he is next to be favored by some cure from the future...

Details

Country:

Czechoslovakia

Language:

Czech

Release Date:

1 August 1977 (Czechoslovakia)

Also Known As:

Mañana me despertaré y me escaldaré con té

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmové studio Barrandov

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3