Zítra vstanu a oparím se cajem

This is a film I saw just once on BBC2 on a Saturday night. In order not to watch Dallas I thought I'd watch the first half hour of the film and then turn over for Match of the Day. MotD never got a look in. The film had me laughing from the word go and made such an impression on my mind that I could still vividly remember scenes from it over a quarter of a century later. Today I received the DVD from a shop in the Czech Repbulic and am astounded at how well I remember the film. The plot centres around the plan by a group of former Nazis to travel back in time and give Hitler a hydrogen bomb and the attempt of the pilot to stop them. He is actually the twin brother of the pilot who should have been taking them but who had died choking on a bread roll. The immobilising spray and the washing up liquid were just as I remembered them. The American tourists were hammed up for all they were worth (it was made under communist rule after all). This is a very funny film and well worth the effort of ordering it from a website in a language I don't read.

Amazing How can you be a pilot of a very special flight, go back in time to Nazi Germany, scald yourself with tea and still win the girl??? I saw this film in 1978 on British TV .... I recorded then lost it.... its a great film...what is is with Czech directors? Even as we speak I am watching Conspirators Of Pleasure...just as funny 9 out of 10

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?

Like most of the other commentators here I saw this film as part of a BBC2 foreign film season in I think the very early 80s. I vaguely remember the next two in the series but this one has stuck in my mind ever since and I would dearly love to see it again. I've lost count of the number of times I've tried to describe it to friends! Twins (one dominated by the other), unrequited love, time travel, all good comedic potential - but add in Hitler and make sure that no element is overplayed and you have something quite unusual. The interplay between the twins in particular is beautifully handled. A touch of Groundhog Day, a touch of Back to the Future, a touch of Blackadder - sheer genius. Do you think that anyone will ever show it on TV again?