Guest post from Kirk in Pasadena
So there was this film. It was Czech I'm sure, sometime in the 1960s likely, black & white definitely. It involved existentially dissatisfied bohemian youth, there was a gymnasium and coffee drinking and a fantastically bleak Eastern European flat and some zipping about on brilliant scooters through streets with old buildings and Soviet Brutalist architecture. Or at least I think it did, I'm beginning to wonder if it wasn't some sort of flashback, fungal transportation or fever dream as I've never found a glimpse of it since. despite every so often trying a Google search involving some combination of the above memories. The most recent was inspired by a Cezeta reference on this very blog. No joy for my film but some genuine gold appeared. Let's start in 1959 with the Norwegian gem 'Støv på hjernen' that rather brilliantly translates as 'Dust On The Brain'. Vintage Scandi scooter slapstick with more than a touch of 'Carry On'
Then to 1960 Prague and 'Valčík pro milion' or 'Waltz For A Million'. Glorious technicolour, superb vehicles from plane to auto to scooters, and a jaunty band sporting some of the best motorcycling chapeaus you'll see in one scene.
Never has internet failure been so rewarding, and we haven't even started on the documentary footage...
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