Watch Closely Watched Trains 1966

This is a good, though far from great film. It concerns the exploits of a premature ejaculator who just started a job with the railroad in Czechoslovakia during WWII. Yes, I DID say "premature ejaculator". So, you can rightly assume this is NOT a movie for the kids to watch. The movie is a very strange amalgamation of two types of film--sort of like Porky's meets The Guns of Navarone! So, apart from watching our hero overcome his control problem, we also watch him and his colleagues as they sabotage Nazi trains as resistance fighters. What a bizarre combination. There is good acting (the actors reminded me of those in the movies by De Sica--just everyday folks as opposed to people who looked and acted like actors). This is the movie's strength. It's greatest weakness is that it spends too much time on nookie and not enough on a real plot. If you want a better Czech film about WWII, try The Shop on Main Street--a much more memorable and important film.

Watch Closely Watched Trains 1966

The title of this column is taken from the wonderful Jiri Menzel film, which means many things to many people. Closely Watched Trains, made in 1966, is a coming-of-age story, a Czechs-are-like-this-only comedy, an anti-Nazi protest, and a movie for people who love trains, stations, steam engines, signalling equipment and anything to do with the railways in general. Numerous films are described as beguiling but few of them age well enough to continue to deserve the appellation. Closely Watched Trains certainly makes the cut. 041b061a72