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This historical film by Hynek Bočan touches upon the indecisiveness of the Czech nation, ready to bend the backbone in face of foreign rule. Situating the story at the close of the Thirty Year War enabled the depiction of the misery of the people that affects even an impoverished aristocratic milieu. Rudolf Hrušínský appears here in the role of an indecisive knight, persuaded for a long time and in vain to join the anti-Habsburg movement. The story does not only captivate through the depiction of manifold human characters, intrigues and sycophancy, but also through the circumstances ruling over the devastated farmstead, sunk in mud and crudeness. One of the best films with an updating tendency has come into being here, rightly being named along the such greats as Kladivo na čarodějnice (Witches' Hammer).
The Ronov castle has been changed into a hotel, offering stylish facilities to its guests: weddings in the torture chamber, a Black Lancer kidnapping brides, a night's lodging in a family tomb etc. The reformed petty swindler Felix Pacínek (Bohumil Smída) runs the hotel. The business is far from thriving; the place is half-empty, and the jazz band Skeleton, together with their singer Zuzanka (Jaroslava Obermaierová), decide to leave. Nobody in the hotel has any idea that the band is in fact a gang of thieves who have just robbed the Prague State Bank, taking two million crowns from its vaults.
At the year 1946, the time of the Nuremberg Process. One of the main actors of the Second World War, who reportedly committed suicide, Adolf Hitler is, however, missing. The Czech doctor Herman (Karel Höger) is kidnapped from Prague and driven to the sanatorium of Professor Rolf Harting (Jirí Vrstála). The sanatorium is a disguised military stronghold, most probably occupied by a Nazi garrison, with prison cells and an execution chamber in the basement. At night, Herman is taken to a patient in whom he, to his horror, recognizes Hitler (Fritz Diez).
A beautiful, underachieving, 18-year-old orphan considers various suitors, ponders philosophy, and takes a young girl under her wing.
A murder in a hospital run by incompetents.
At the Ronov castle, the archive-keeper professor Nykl (Milos Nedbal) is searching for the lost painting The Naked Shepherdess by the famous Fragonard. Nykl is just about to disassemble the mantelpiece in the knight's hall, convinced that the painting must be hidden somewhere inside. His efforts, however, meet the strong disapproval of the castle manager, Anna Juzová (Jirina Petrovická), who knows very well where The Naked Shepherdess is. She wants to get hold of the painting herself, to emigrate and smuggle it along. In fact, Anna deals with forgeries of the most distinguished old masters, selling them abroad. The copies are made for her by the painter and restorer Maudr (Martin Ruzek) and the certificates of authenticity are issued by Anna's companion - expert Laburda (Karel Höger). One day, Anna is found murdered in front of the castle's fireplace.
