Episode 342: Happy End (1966)

Guest Co-Hosts: Ben Buckingham, Kat Ellinger


We wrap up the first Czechtember series with a film from director Oldrich Lipský, 1966's Happy End, an experimental comedy (which is as unusual as that sounds) that puts scenes in opposite order and runs motion backward from the death of our main character (Vladimír Menšík) while he gives the voice-over account of life from birth. Of course, this provides us with constant ironic juxtapositions.


The film was co-written by Lipský and Milos Macourek, the screenwriter behind some of the best comedies out of Czechoslovakia in the '60s and '70s.

Kat Ellinger and Ben Buckingham join Mike to discuss Happy End and other favorite Czech comedies.