Drawn from the Anthology Film Archive in New York and the National Film Archive in Prague, this series examines modernism in Czech films from the silent to the postwar era. A dozen features screen at Facets Cinematheque through Thursday, February 22; for a complete schedule visit www.facets.org.
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RCrisis This 1939 documentary about Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia still packs a wallop, though certain passages of earnest commentary, like the paeans to labor solidarity, now feel dated. Every act of Nazi aggression and appeasement by the other European powers is chronicled, showing how the country fell shortly after the 1938 annexation of Austria. Hitler’s divide-and-conquer strategy of inflaming tensions among local ethnic populations dominates this tragic history, which also explains how his German-speaking Sudetenland supporters aided his takeover by undermining the Czech government. American filmmaker Herbert Kline codirected with Czechs Hans Burger and Alexandr Hackenschmied (the avant-garde icon who became Alexander Hammid once he emigrated to the United States). In Czech with subtitles. 71 min. (AG) a Mon 2/19, 8:45 PM.
rescued by a chivalrous man of the people. Though not as graphic as Machaty’s notorious Ecstasy (1933), this compact melodrama takes a sophisticated approach to love, treating sex frankly and romance skeptically. In Czech with subtitles. 72 min. (AG)
