How to Drown Dr. Mracek, the Lawyer

There are water spirits in Czech folk tales and, according to this film, they are still among us. A group living in Prague has gathered around the Vodník who heads the family, and their only concern is their old house by the river. The house is to be demolished. The lawyer Mráček is the man responsible for the demolition, and the only solution the group can find is to drown him. But Mráček falls in love with Jana, the young woman of the family, and things get tangled. Václav Vorlíček was the best known name in fantastical comedy in Czechoslovakia, and this film is a typical example of his mould: fairy-tale figures are dropped into the modern city, nobody is surprised, and the humour comes out of that indifference. Libuše Šafránková plays Jana; two years earlier she had become known through the fairy-tale film Three Wishes for Cinderella, and that part put her into the memory of a whole generation in the region. Two hours. The story does not proceed in an orderly way and has no intention of doing so.