Zítra vstanu a oparím se cajem

One morning, Jan Bures (or is it Karel Bures? I forgot which is which :) discovers that his twin brother Karel (Jan?) has choked to death on a bread roll. However, Jan knows what to do - Karel was a pilot for Universum, a time travel agency. So he dresses up as his brother and goes to his brother's job. He soon discovers that his brother was part of a Nazi ploy to hijack a time travel rocket, go to 1944 (when Germany is in trouble) and give Adolf Hitler an A-bomb. Although he can do little to prevent this, the ploy fails - firstly, the hijackers are double-booked with two American tourists, and secondly, they land in 1941 - when German soldiers are threatening to conquer Moscow. When they return, they return before they actually took off (this is Jan's attempt to save his brother by preventing him from suffocating). And things go downhill from there...

Firstly, this is a very original take on the topic of time travel. Secondly, Petr Kostka does a great job in this double-role (which is in fact more of a single role after all). The effects and styling appear naive now, but they're good for their time and place. (The Universum scenes were mostly filmed in the then-new Prague subway.) Finally, the writers and director must be commended for not getting lost in the screenplay and for not letting us get lost or bored - there's always something going on and if you're willing to believe that time travel was possible in the 1970s as demonstrated in the film, there are few (if any) plot holes or inconsistencies. Music doesn't play much of a role here.

The near-obligatory compromises to Communism (this was the 1970s, y'know) are present, but in a way that just makes it even more entertaining - the aforementioned American tourists react to the sight of Hitler in the flesh by demanding to take photographs with him, much to the Führer's frustration (the guy who played him was great too). Can't really think of any other examples right now.

If you like this film, an obvious recommendation would be Zabil jsem Einsteina, pánové (I Killed Einstein, Gentlemen), but I found Zítra vstanu a oparím se cajem more entertaining.

Like many people here, I first saw this film when the BBC showed it back in the eighties. It also turned up at an SF convention in England in the early nineties when one of their guests was Josef Nesvadba who wrote the original story. Then last year I found out it was available on DVD in the Czech Republic and found someone who knew someone that was going there for Christmas. I saw it again last night, and it is still fun.

The special effects might not be very special, but it handles the time paradoxes very well, in a way that appeals to me as a fan primarily of written SF. The scenes in the corridors of the time travel company where the tour guides are all done up in historical costumes are hilarious. The best time travel farce I've ever seen.

Incidentally, Josef Nesvadba died in 2005. Isn't about time his date of death was added to his page?

I understand it was Saturday 16th January 1982 when I first saw this film. Dallas was on BBC 1 and Match of the Day wouldn't start for another half hour or so. So my brother and I decided to watch the beginning of this film on BBC 2 and then turn over for the football. Except we watched the whole thing. It really was that good.

Fast forward to 2006 and I finally got a copy of the DVD in my grubby mitts. I had to get it from the Czech Republic but it's PAL and the same region as the UK. I watched it and couldn't believe just how much I remembered from over twenty years previously.

Petr Koska is brilliant in his three roles: Jan Bures, Karel Bures and Jan pretending to be Karel. In this third role he improves his performance to the other characters as the film goes on because he has figured out how the plot should take shape after nearly mucking things up somewhat the first time round.

For me, getting the DVD has been a delightful piece of nostalgia!

I too saw this as a young teenager one night on BBC2 in the very early eighties. Over twenty years later I still remember it. I would love to see it again.

All I can remember is that it involved time travel, eastern Europe (aka the Communist countries), a balcony, a sequence of going back to the same moment and place in time repeatedly and a cup of tea getting spilled on someones hand (perhaps more than once).

It was very clever, very funny and had a happy ending.

That night on BBC2 must have been the only time it was ever shown to a wide audience. I'm amazed that it seems never to have been screened again. Is it because it only appealed to 13 year-olds? There are things I've grown tired of since that age but, right now, there is nothing that I recall having completely changed my mind over. So I would probably still love it!

Find it! Watch it! Again!

I remember seeing this movie late one night on the BBC in England. It was many years ago (early 80s I think) but it was so good and I've always wanted to see it again. The plot centers around an airline pilot in the future who works for a time travel company who run tours to the past. I can't really remember all the details but it was something about one of the time-travel ships being hijacked by some people who want to kidnap Hitler or something. There are all sorts of hilarious mixups and weird goings as the hero goes backwards and forwards to different eras of history. He ends up re-visiting the same day 3 times - trying to avoid bumping into himself (thus causing a time paradox). I'm a bit fuzzy on the details but I also remember that a sort of pepper spray is frequently used which turns the victim a putrid green color and freezes them for a while in a particularly amusing way. The production design is a terrific late 70s very Czech vision of the future, kind of funny but inventive and setting the perfect tone. I laughed a lot and was left well impressed by the very intelligent way the concept of time travel was handled. All too often in scifi/time travel movies the internal logic of the situation is fundamentally flawed. In this movie all those paradoxes work toward build up the humor as the hero's life becomes more and more complex and confused. As far as I can remember anyway. If anyone knows any way I can get hold of or even just see a copy of this film here in the US (where I don't believe it was ever released) please e-mail me. A forlorn hope I guess because even some Czech friends of mine hadn't even heard of it!