Toulavý Engelbert

I wonder what's weirder: That Juraj Herz made such an elaborate musical? That there's a medieval castle full of hippies? That Petr Čepek is playing a court jester who keeps falling down? Compared to A Night at Karlstein, which was made in the same year, Rambling Engelbert is a lot less funny, but it has a more, one could say, fairy-tale and an almost kitschy romantic atmosphere, some of its songs are irresistibly catchy (the "party" scene after Engelbert's arrival at the castle is, by the way, excellently filmed), and of course the cast is not as good. Unfortunately, Miloš Kopecký doesn't have much to do, the unsympathetic Josef Laufer, who should have stuff to do, does not know how to act and so he doesn't (but fortunately he sings well), Jitka Molavcová is cute (there's probably no other way to evaluate her performance) and the most memorable actors are Petr Čepek in the moment when he exclaims in his thunderous voice that "The buffoon is playing the buffoon in front of the buffoons!", and Václav Štekl as the monk. (16.01.2012)