I'd heard about this film for years and knew it won the Academy Award in the U.S.A. in 1967 as Best Foreign Film of that year, but only recently did I catch up with it. I won't say it's great--it's a good comedy of the absurd, done in grand style with a wonderful cast of actors doing justice to the sly comedy inherent in every scene.
VACLAV NECKAR is the novice station attendant and JOSEF SOMR is the randy supervisor with his mind on anything but trains, even CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS which might be carrying German ammunition.
The humor is a constant factor in the slowly developed story and you get a sense of how the Czech countrymen felt about the Germans during the early days of WWII. The coming of age aspect is concerned mainly with Neckar's "premature ejaculation" problem--one that he almost commits suicide over--which is a rather strange aspect of a tale meant to be taken as absurdly hilarious.
I'd have to say the film has been over-hyped as "great", although I found it sufficiently entertaining but dull in spots. Photographed in crisp B&W, it's one of the better foreign films of this period but I think the praise has been too extensive for what is essentially a one-note comedy about a boy's obsession with what the doctor calls "a normal occurrence" that is cured--predictably--by a mature woman who understands his problem.
The final explosive scene with the German ammunition train being blown up--and the wind machines blasting away at the station--is a satisfying but odd conclusion to the story for reasons undisclosed lest I spoil your enjoyment of the finale.
VACLAV NECKAR is the novice station attendant and JOSEF SOMR is the randy supervisor with his mind on anything but trains, even CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS which might be carrying German ammunition.
The humor is a constant factor in the slowly developed story and you get a sense of how the Czech countrymen felt about the Germans during the early days of WWII. The coming of age aspect is concerned mainly with Neckar's "premature ejaculation" problem--one that he almost commits suicide over--which is a rather strange aspect of a tale meant to be taken as absurdly hilarious.
I'd have to say the film has been over-hyped as "great", although I found it sufficiently entertaining but dull in spots. Photographed in crisp B&W, it's one of the better foreign films of this period but I think the praise has been too extensive for what is essentially a one-note comedy about a boy's obsession with what the doctor calls "a normal occurrence" that is cured--predictably--by a mature woman who understands his problem.
The final explosive scene with the German ammunition train being blown up--and the wind machines blasting away at the station--is a satisfying but odd conclusion to the story for reasons undisclosed lest I spoil your enjoyment of the finale.