The devil is not good to play with
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The devil is not good to play with |
| Original title | S čerty nejsou žerty |
| Country of production | Czechoslovakia |
| original language | Czech |
| Publishing year | 1985 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK o. A. |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hynek Bočan |
| script |
Jiří Just , Hynek Bočan |
| music | Jaroslav Uhlír |
| camera | Jaromír Šofr |
| cut | Dalibor Lipský |
| occupation | |
| |
Playing with the devil is not good is a Czechoslovak literary film adaptation by Hynek Bočan from 1985 . The fairy tale film opened in Czechoslovakia on October 1, 1985.
action
The setting is an unnamed, apparently very small country in the 17th or 18th century. When this country is embroiled in a war, it also affects the happiness of the small milling family Machal. Only after years does peace return. Much has changed in the meantime, including the Machals. Son Peter has matured into a man, but his mother has died.
The small country lost the war and the treasury is empty. The king, a very good-natured and weak-willed man, is almost entirely under the pernicious influence of his minister. He only has his own advantage in mind and secretly works to overthrow the king. To finance his machinations, he also needs money. So he and his lover Dorota spin the plan to appropriate the relatively profitable mill and the associated farm of the Machals. For this purpose Dorota is supposed to marry the widowed Müller.
The widower is completely overwhelmed with the housework that he now has to do and Dorota quickly succeeds in making herself indispensable for him. After the wedding, she takes over the management of the finances and works to make the farm more profitable by expanding agriculture. But since she dismisses all of the servants in order to save money, this means a lot of work for her husband and her stepson. Old miller in particular can no longer do it. Peter contradicts Dorota's plans, but receives no support from his father. He tries very hard to keep up with his much younger wife and lets her wrap him around his finger. One day she persuades him to go to a dance with her. There she animates the old man to dance so wildly that he collapses and dies. Peter and Dorota have now inherited the property together. The young widow wants to get rid of her stepson and dispose of the mill alone. She schemed with the minister to put Peter in jail.
In hell the prince of hell gathers his devils around him, who watch the people on earth for him in animal form. Dorota's malicious behavior comes up and it is decided to take her to hell. The order for this is given to the devil Janek, who also goes straight to the Müllerhof. He meets Dorota, but she manages to get away from him at first and then outsmarts him so that he accidentally sends her mother-in-law Anna to hell. There it quickly becomes clear that Anna is not the person Janek should actually get.
The minister draws up an arrest warrant with furious allegations against Peter and he is supposed to be arrested. However, he initially manages to escape. He meets the vain Angelina and the gentle Adela, the daughters of the king, who are going on an excursion. On this occasion, Adela falls in love with him instantly, while himself only has eyes for Angelina. Eventually, Peter is arrested and taken to the castle, where he is to be tried. The young women are also returning there. While taking a walk, Adela sings a song about how much she loves Peter. He hears it in his prison cell but cannot see the singer. So he assumes it's Angelina. During the trial, the minister portrays Peter as an extremely depraved character. He interprets the fact that Peter's grandmother was taken by the devil as evidence that wickedness runs in the family with the Machals. The prince of Hell, to whom this is reported, is particularly angry. However, Peter is spared the life imprisonment demanded by the minister, because this is too drastic for the king. Instead, Peter has to become a soldier for a few years.
Not least thanks to Anna's intercession, the prince of Hell gives Janek another chance to make up for his mistake and still bring him Dorota. But when he returns to the village and goes to the inn there, he unintentionally insults the landlord. This forces him to have a drink with him to reconcile. As a devil, Janek is absolutely not used to alcohol and quickly gets so drunk that he can be persuaded by recruits to join the military. In the barracks he is given a uniform and his old clothes are burned: Janek is still too intoxicated to prevent his wolf's tail from ending up in the fire. Without this he can no longer assume any animal form and he cannot return to hell in human form. The following night the lord of hell appears to him, who is beside himself about Janek's recent mistake and tells him that he is no longer welcome in hell.
Peter has also landed in the barracks and befriends Janek. Together they manage to get a new wolf tail and bring Dorota to hell. However, they are now being hunted as deserters.
The Prince of Hell forgives Janek and Peter is allowed to hide in Hell for a few days. He can ask for something from the Prince of Hell and asks to be allowed to take his grandmother back to earth with him. He also expresses Janek's desire to collect the corporal from Earth. This had harassed the two in the barracks all the time. The prince of Hell agrees, but Janek should also bring the minister with him. Suggested by Janek, Peter also wants a magic cloak, which the lord of hell is keeping. This cloak has the ability to add immeasurable wealth to its wearer. Whenever the wearer reaches into his coat pocket, he finds pieces of gold in them. However, he is not allowed to wash, comb, shave or even wipe his eyes while he is occupying his coat. He is also never allowed to take off the garment, because otherwise it will be taken away from him forever and taken back to hell. Peter then goes to the royal court to woo Adelka. Angelina, vain as she is, however, thinks the ugly, ragged man is intended for her to be her bridegroom and refuses to give her consent. Finally, she agrees anyway, because her father pleads with her because of the high national debt.
Peter goes back home and uses the coat to fill two sacks of gold. One for himself and his family, the second for the king. Then he hangs the coat on a hook, whereupon it disappears. For this he receives new clothes, as well as water and soap to wash. The next day, accompanied by his grandmother, he went to the castle as a handsome, handsome man to renew his advertising. Now Angelina suddenly wants to marry him. But Peter immediately makes it clear that he came because of Adelka. This accepts his marriage proposal, whereupon the king agrees and the wedding takes place soon. Angelina is pissed off and jealous when she is suddenly asked by a gallant gentleman for the next dance.
He also asks her whether she would like to marry a prince. She says yes. And she affirms it again when he neglects the question whether this still applies if it were the prince of hell? To which she replies that she does not believe in hell. The gallant gentleman then offers her his arm, whereupon he leads her out of the hall, handing over a splendid piece of jewelry. His servant congratulates Peter and Adelka, who then recognize the prince of Hell in Angelina's bridegroom. But Janek thinks that Angelina will be fine in hell, whereupon he follows his master. With that the film ends.
criticism
“A challenging children's film that packs its social and sociopolitical message into an imaginative fairy tale with turbulent adventures and bubbles with carefully staged, witty ideas. Hell with the strict Lucifer and his stupid rabble, but also a clever devil, exercises compensatory justice for injustice on earth. This is how a village boy whom the greedy stepmother has brought around house and farm comes back to happiness and prosperity. "
Web links
- With the devil is not good joke in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Kinobox.cz
Individual evidence
- ↑ It is not good to play with the devil. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .