Zivot je pes

This film listed on IMDb only as LIFE IS A DOG is a delightful early Czech sound film entitled ZI VOTA JE PES, aka in English as A DOG'S LIFE. It has no dogs in it, and the title refers instead to the common phrase 'it's a dog's life' as applied to humans. It stars the Czech comedian Hugo Haas and the beautiful Czech starlet of that period, appearing in only her second film, Adina Mandlová. The script is extraordinarily ingenious, and should be seriously studied by comedians hoping for ideas. It was written by Martin Fric, who also directed the film. (The surname Fric is the Czech spelling of the Austrian surname better known as Fritsch in the German spelling.) The film is especially interesting for having been shot largely on location in the Prague of 1932, letting us see what a highly sophisticated and glamourous city it was before the Nazis and the Communists got hold of it and nearly destroyed it in the many decades of Prague's enforced decline. Although this film is a situation comedy and not a slapstick comedy, one is tempted to coin a new phrase and label it as a 'slapstick situation comedy'. This is because of the witty device of Hugo Haas playing both himself as a young man and his imaginary older uncle, with rapid costume changes, addition of wig, spectacles and false moustache, done in such lightning fashion that his timing is almost as split-second as Buster Keaton's. The comedic situations pile up at dizzying speed as he tries to be two people at once at the same time in the same place, including even a double wedding. Really, this film is from the point of view of ingenuity a comedic masterpiece. Haas was extremely talented and also very funny. It really does deserve serious study and analysis by all serious students of comedy, and should be a standard classic for that purpose. And anyone interesting in seeing pre-War Prague should also see it, as the street scenes are very vivid, the cars are sublime, the shops bulging, and a vanished world is shown. This was the period when one of my favourite authors, Karel Capek, was thriving there. It comes as no surprise to learn that Martin Fric was a friend and collaborator of Capek, and that he directed the film HORDUBALOVÉ (1938) based upon Capek's novel HORDUBAL, scripted by Capek himself just before Capek's death in 1938, and he later scripted and directed CAPEK'S TALES (1947), based upon Capek's hilarious short stories. And for those who don't already know, I should add that it was Capek who introduced the word 'robot' into the English language, as he wrote a play about robots entitled R.U.R., which became a roaring success in English translation.

"I don't mind" is a leitmotiv of Czech vintage movie The Life is Dog. It's a classical comedy by Mac Fric, based on screenplay by him and Hugo Haas who plays the double-character in this movie. It's a story of unsuccessful musical composer who falls in love with beautiful daughter of musical publisher. It's beginning of thirties, the time of crisis and large unemployment so he starts to pretend that he is his own uncle and got a good job in this company. This is a source of many comical situations which are often presented in a short anecdotal episodes. The performances are great. Hugo Haas is funny, Adina Mandlová is attractive and winsome (and quite naive), Theodor Pistek is both rigorous and kind... The music is wonderful too, the composer of it was Pavel Haas, brother of Hugo, interesting composer whose the best known works were written in the detention camp Theresienstadt.

Proof positive that Hugo Haas was never young, he's considerably luckier in love than he ever was twenty years later. For once the blonde he's smitten is on the level, but the most delightful female presence is Svetla Svozilova as a lanky amazon with bobbed hair.