Criterion Collection: Fireman's Ball [DVD] [1967] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

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.

Despite it's age and there being no English-language version available, this film cannot fail to please. The dark dry humour is typical of many Czech films, as is the integral presence of lecherous old men. A very enjoyable video, at least in part because it reveals quite a different culture, but also shows something universal about comedy.