The Firemen's Ball - Criterion Collection

Starring:Jan Vostrcil, Josef Sebanek, Josef Valnoha, Frantisek Debelka, Josef Kolb, Jan StÃ¶ckl, Vratislav CermÃ¡k, Josef Rehorek, VÃ¡clav NovotnÃ½, Frantisek Reinstein, Frantisek Paska, Stanislav Holubec, Josef KutÃ¡lek, Frantisek Svet, Ladislav Adam, JirÃ LÃbal, AntonÃn BlazejovskÃ½, Stanislav Ditrich, Milada JezkovÃ¡, Jarmila KucharovÃ¡
Director: Milos Forman
Studio: Criterion
Product Type: DVD

Description

A milestone of the Czech New Wave, Milos Forman's first color film The Firemen's Ball (Horí, má panenko) is both a dazzling comedy and a provocative political satire. A hilarious saga of good intentions confounded, the story chronicles a firemen's ball where nothing goes right-from a beauty pageant whose reluctant participants embarrass the organizers to a lottery from which nearly all the prizes are pilfered. Presumed to be a commentary on the floundering Czech leadership, the film was "banned forever" in Czechoslovakia following the Russian invasion and prompted Forman's move to America.

Customer Reviews:

poignant and subtle political satire.......2007-01-27

Milos Forman's 'fireman's ball' is a classic among political satires.. It is remarkable that a film so subtle would be condemned by the czech government. It, in fact, appears harmless to our sensibilities today.. this indicates just how repressive the czech government was at the time.. Not to indicate any superiority in the U.s. (think of all the books and movies that have sadly been censored and banned from schools and the like here)... The fact is this film is a great satire of a desperate nation - forman comments on the common phrase of the time - if you do not steal you are stealing from your family.
The technical aspects of the film are also spot on.. It is perfectly formed and sculpted at 73 min.. as elegant as a Borges short story.. highly recommended viewing.

Otto! Ottiku!.......2006-09-17

Hori, ma panenko (Firemen's Ball) is perhaps the finest example of the fresh, amusing, and humane style of the Czech New Wave. Milos Forman's movie is funny, sweet, and highly memorable. This is one of my very favorite films. Look especially for Josef Kolb and Milada Jezkova as an honest fireman and his perhaps less-than-honest wife; they are especially charming in this fine, mostly non-professional cast of real Czech firemen and townspeople.

A little disappointed.......2006-08-03

It's being hailed as one of Milos Forman's greatest films. He moved to America from Czechoslovakia after his film was banned "forever" in that country. I did find it somewhat amusing.

When a fireman's ball dissolved into anarchy, the movie then became truly interesting. One actor had a gift for showing a lot of emotions with his face and I enjoyed watching him. I suppose that the film says a lot about small town life in that country at the time it was made, and it certainly wasn't flattering. But the government must have been way too sensitive to make a fuss over a little bit of self-deprecating humor. I think the average Czech citizen would recognized a little of themselves and chuckled.

Sweet and subversive, gentle and sly.......2006-05-26

So is The Fireman's Ball a gentle look at the human comedy or is it a sly and subversive poke in the nose of an inept, authoritarian government? Perhaps we should take the word of director Milos Forman. It's just a gentle comedy, he'd shrug in his native Czechoslovakia after the picture was released in 1967. Of course it's subversive, he'd say, after he'd had to flee his country in 1968, when Soviet tanks were sent in to install a tougher, duller brand of Communist leaders and to snuff out the brief Prague Spring. How subversive? The new Czech leadership immediately banned the movie "permanently and forever." With all this, it's still one of the sweetest, most good-natured looks at how people behave, even their leaders, who are undoubtedly among the most bumbling, self-serving and incompetent group of men you'd ever hope to not meet.

In a small Czechoslovakian town the leadership of the fire department is planning a ball and raffle to honor their aged former chief. They'd planned to the year before on his 85th birthday but, well, they never quite got around to it. Now he's dying of cancer and they feel they really ought to do something. There will be a great banner in the meeting hall, a dance with drinks and food, a beauty contest featuring the town's young women, and a great raffle of donated delicacies, bottles of wine and toys and cosmetics.

But, oh. One thing after another happens with sweet irony, The banner burns. The girls don't want to take part. And slowly, item by item, things begin to go missing from the raffle table...first a chocolate cake, then a bottle of cognac, a head cheese, a chocolate ball. "Every one is stealing here," the wife of one blustering fireman tells him., "and you only watch, you old honest idiot!" She's the one with the stolen headcheese in her bag. The firemen's entertainment committee, a group of puffed-up aging men, dither and bicker endlessly over the details and the problems. "Busts...busts are important" is one thing they all agree on as they examine candidates for the beauty contest.

At one point the head of the firemen's committee stops the music and tells the crowd that some items have been taken from the raffle table. He says the lights will go out for a few minutes and he expects the items to be returned. The lights go off. The lights come back on. And even more items from the table are missing.

It all looks like the ball will eventually end in a shambles, but then they hear an alarm. A farm house is on fire nearby. The firemen and the townsfolk rush to the fire and manage to rescue an aged farmer in his underwear. But the fire engine is stuck in the snow. There's no water pressure. The farm house burns down to the ground. But at least the firemen find a way to comfort the cold, old man. While he watches his possessions burn, they suggest he move his chair closer to the fire to keep warm.

This is such a wry and gentle comedy, so sweet-natured, that it is reassuring to realize that the leaden hand of Czech authoritarianism is now long gone, and that this movie remains for all of us.

This Criterion presentation looks and sounds just fine. There is an excellent interview with Milos Forman.

A bundle of laughs.......2005-08-31

Watching "The firemen's ball" as a teenager on German television in the late sixties, I recall that I never laughed about any other film as much as I have about this one - and I wasn't even stoned! An absolute must for people who enjoy rolling around on the floor for a good healthy laugh. Not being able to remember the actual title for many years, I started browsing on amazon.com and was thrilled to find it. I recommend this to anybody who loves to "let their hair down" every once and while.

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