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Between 1964 and 1981, Oldřich Lipský and Jiří Brdečka collaborated on a loose trilogy of films, each of which paid loving, yet subversive, homage to a strain of pop culture that would’ve been seen as hopelessly disreputable by the Communist authorities in the former Czechoslovakia. Lemonade Joe is a tribute to the John Ford western, while Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet tinkers with the conventions of the private eye film. And Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians delivers a hilarious and surreal steampunk riff on a lesser known Jules Verne novel, in which the French writer filters the trappings of gothic fiction through his “scientific-technical” worldview.

The comedic sensibility behind Mysterious Castle bears comparison to a number of other films and filmmakers. Its sense of anarchy and unpredictability brings to mind the work of the Marx Brothers, while the delight that it takes in in absurdism and abstruse wordplay (only some...

Horror films aren’t only about vampires and goblins — Czech director Juraj Herz’s mind-chilling study of a Fascist opportunist communicates truths about aberrant psychology and Fascists, that audiences would never read in print. A bourgeois burner of cadavers leverages his Reich-useful trade into his own little warped empire of evil. Karl Kopfringl’s modus operandi hardly needs to change, to conform to Nazi standards — the elitist hypocrite already has both his family and employees passively accepting his sick ideas about cremation as the solution to all human ills. Cinematically brilliant, this late picture from the Czech New Wave is one of the best movies ever about conformists, collaborators, and assorted other ghouls.

The Cremator

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 1023

1969 / B&w / 1:66 widescreen / 100 min. / Spalovač mrtvol / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 21, 2020 / 39.95

Starring: Rudolf Hrusínský, Vlasta Chramostová, Jana Stehnová, Miloš Vognič, Zora Božinavá.

Cinematography: Stanislav Milota

Film Editor:...

Everyday Noir in Prague: a one-of-a-kind Czech/Brit coproduction teams fine British actors with the home-grown star Rudolf HruSínský, and the result is neither murder nor mayhem, but a real everyday tragedy that might happen anywhere. The bright B&w images chart an unhappy illicit romance, and a petty crime with awful consequences.

90° in the Shade

All-region Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1965 / B&w / 2:39 widescreen / 91 min. / + second version Tricet jedna ve stínu 83 min. / Street Date September 23, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99

Starring: Anne Heywood, James Booth, Rudolf HruSínský, Ann Todd, Sir Donald Wolfit, Jirina Jirásková, Jorga Kotrbová, Vladimír Mensík.

Cinematography: Becrich Batka

Film Editors: Jan Chaloupek, Russell Lloyd

Original Music: Ludek Hulan

Written by David Mercer story by Jirí Mucha, Jirí Weiss

Produced by Raymond Stross

Directed by Jirí Weiss

(note: a Czech friend who long ago helped me with research for Ikarie Xb-1 advised me not to even Try spelling Czech with full diacritical remarks.