"Actor: Rudolf Hru ínský"

• Larks on a String (Skrivánci na niti) | DVD | (14/03/2011) from £11.95   |  Saving you £2.80 (27.48%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Shot in 1969 but banned by the Czech government until the fall of the Communist regime in 1990 Menzel's wry comic drama is a hymn to humanity and nonconformity. The film's principal characters are residents of a state-run junkyard / labour camp for those whose actions have been deemed 'counter-revolutionary'. On one side of the yard live the men most sent here for 're-education'. On the other side are a group of women interned for the crime of attempted defection. Separately the two groups lazily toil sorting out piles of scrap metal (one huge pile is nothing less than a veritable mountain of crucifixes and religious icons); together they flirt philosophize and occasionally sneak off behind the hillocks of slag to make love. Larks On A String is at once a stinging indictment of the repressive politics of Czechoslovakia's past and an endearing comedy and affecting love story.

• The Czechoslovak New Wave Collection Volume II | DVD | (07/12/2015) from £40.15   |  Saving you £-15.16 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This specially priced, Limited Edition 3-DVD set comprises three extraordinary features from a golden age of Eastern European cinema which came to be known as the 'Czechoslovak New Wave'. This brief period, from circa 1963 to 1969, produced an astonishing sequence of films that made a huge impact on world cinema. These three integral works of that most creative period were made in the most difficult of circumstances under the gaze of Government censors, yet achieved a miraculous and subversive marriage of content and form. Now, fifty years on, the films remain as remarkable as ever. The set includes: A Blonde in Love / Lásky jedné plavovlásky (Miloš Forman, 1965) Widely regarded as one of the great films of the 60s, this bittersweet romance unfolds as a wry critique of life under totalitarianism. Forman's sweetly seductive Oscar®-nominated feature remains a subtle and beautifully observed social satire. The Party and the Guests / O slavnosti a hostech (Jan Němec, 1966) Considered the most politically dangerous film made during the Czech New Wave - and subsequently banned forever - Němec's film is a biting satire of authoritarianism and conformity. The film's universal relevance continues to this day. Larks on a String / Skřivánci na niti (Jiří Menzel, 1969) Menzel's audacious, long-banned political comedy is set in a scrap metal yard where political dissidents are interned for 're-education'. A powerful commentary on totalitarianism and a celebration of the resilience of the human spirit.

• The Czechoslovak New Wave - A Collection (3 Film Box Set) | DVD | (26/11/2012) from £32.38   |  Saving you £-7.39 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A 3-disc set comprising three integral features from the most creative period of Czechoslovak cinema. Despite being made under the gaze of Government censors ; these films achieved a miraculous marriage of content and form despite the most oppressive circumstances. Set includes: Diamonds of the Night (1964): Nemec's debut feature is one of the most thrilling and startlingly original works of cinema. Told almost without dialogue ; it chronicles the tense and desperate journey of two t...

• Ninety Degrees In The Shade | DVD | (21/03/2011) from £6.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (85.84%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A rare gem of a film that was a British/Czech co-production filmed in Prague before the Soviet clampdown of 1968 and nominated for the 1966 Golden Globe award for best English foreign language film. Vorell (James Booth) is a flighty married man with little concern for anyone other than himself. He has recently ended an affair with co-worker Alena (Anne Heywood) the manageress of a liquor store in communist Prague but when a government inspector Mr Kurka (Rudolf Hrusnsk) arrives to check their inventory it soon becomes apparent that Vorell is running a scam to sell liquor on the black market. Scared for his job and reputation Vorell leans on Alena reigniting their affair under the watchful and lecherous eyes of the emasculated Mr Kurka whose wife (Ann Todd) is an alcoholic unwilling to have sex with him. As the temperature of Pragues summer reaches ninety degrees in the shade the heat of lust and envy in the liquor store inevitably leads to violence and death