Murder in the Excelsior Hotel

Lacrimae Rerum

March 1967 •Czech

Konec cesty

March 1960 •Czech

Josef Lachman, once a security officer, serves twelve years for aiding an SS fugitive’s escape. Upon release, he works as a driver on a dam project, hunting buried English pounds Meyer told him about. With miner Rokos’s help, he retrieves the cash and hides it with his daughter Eva, but she spends some at Tuzex, Rokos blackmails him, and they discover the notes are WWII forgeries.

Shanghai Express

February 1932 •English

A beautiful temptress re-kindles an old romance while trying to escape her past during a tension-packed train journey.

Zrcadlo nenávisti

June 1988 •Czech

Painter Horace visits his friend, a former criminalist, and is intrigued by two strange women who live in the house opposite. The old sisters have lived together their entire lives, quarreling, doing things to each other on purpose, but they cannot be without each other. And then one day both sisters are found dead in their locked apartment. They poisoned themselves with gas. Officially, the case is closed as a suicide. But Horace doesn't think so... Even though his criminalist friend discourages him, he continues his investigation. Were the women murdered? And is Janza involved, or their friend Pesný, who was supposed to live in their apartment?

Přízrak

August 1988 •Czech

A thrilling detective story based on a short story by writer Hana Prošková takes place shortly after the war in a castle, where a group of students work part-time to re-register the archive. During long evenings, they sit together and invent a fictional character, the "Ghost", who mysteriously moves around the castle and disturbs its peace. But the recession becomes an opportunity for someone to carry out their evil intentions. Fiction becomes materialized and the danger begins to become cruelly real...

Seven Crosses in a Notebook

July 1983 •Russian

Три ненастных дня

December 1978 •Russian

Guys and Dolls

December 1955 •English

Gambler Nathan Detroit has few options for the location of his big craps game. Needing $1,000 to pay a garage owner to host the game, Nathan bets Sky Masterson that Sky cannot get virtuous Sarah Brown out on a date. Despite some resistance, Sky negotiates a date with her in exchange for bringing people into her mission. Meanwhile, Nathan's longtime fiancée, Adelaide, wants him to go legit and marry her.

Jindabyne

July 2006 •English

Outside the Australian town of Jindabyne, local man Stuart Kane is on a fishing trip with friends when they discover the body of a murdered girl.

The Disappearance Of Actor Bendy

February 1980 •Czech

Commissioner Bartošek is visited by Dr. Goldberg, who reports the disappearance of his friend, the famous actor Benda. From the flimsy evidence, it appears that Benda left his apartment one night without taking anything with him and was taken away by car. He had not gone out for the entire week before, had not washed, had not shaved, and had drunk until he was debauched. The police search has reached a dead end. The actor Lebduška reveals to Goldberg that Benda had an affair with the actress Gréta, the wife of a prominent businessman, Bartošek's classmate Korbel. Goldberg eventually manages to exhume an unknown vagrant, whose body was found shortly after Benda's disappearance...

Zločincem proti své vůli

June 1970 •Czech

Inn At the Flying Dragon

April 1972 •Czech

Joseph Sheridan le Fanu's tale, "Inn at the Flying Dragon," brings dark fantasy, ghostly apparitions, and mysteries to the TV screen. It's part of his well-known collection, "The Dark Mirror," published a century ago, yet still captivating readers today. Bohumila Zelenková drew inspiration from this novella, not just for its mysterious and romantic elements but also for the characters' intriguing portrayal of the post-Napoleon era—a time when many sought greatness, even if it meant embracing deception.

Gun Crazy

January 1950 •English

Bart Tare is an ex-Army man who has a lifelong fixation with guns, he meets a kindred spirit in sharpshooter Annie Starr and goes to work at a carnival. After upsetting the carnival owner who lusts after Starr, they both get fired. Soon, on Starr's behest, they embark on a crime spree for cash.

Cohen and Tate

January 1989 •English

A boy kidnapped by two mismatched hitmen puts them at each other's throats while being driven to their employers, possibly to be killed. Cohen, an older professional becomes increasingly irritated with his partner Tate, a brutish killer, when their prisoner uses unnatural guile and resourcefulness to play them off against each other.

Zvláštní případ

December 1971 •Czech

Lieutenant Vasátko is spending Christmas vacation in a mountain cabin where a diverse group of people have gathered. The painter Horác and two married couples, the director Skorkovský and his wife and his new discovery, the not very clever Jájinka and her husband. There is a murder and an unusual denouement.

Rashomon

August 1950 •Japanese

Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.

Tušenie

October 1982 •Slovak

Anonym

January 1980 •Slovak

While searching for a criminal, investigators find themselves in a series of dramatic and dangerous situations. The risk is even greater when the dangerous man is not being tracked by a professional team of criminal investigators, but by a private individual. This is the case of journalist Gavlas, who finds himself in a dangerous situation while performing his profession. Anonymous threatens him with death if he does not abandon his profession. Gavlas must deal not only with the problem of his personal attitude towards the principles of the journalistic profession, but above all he must uncover and neutralize a hidden adversary.

Burglar and Umbrella

April 1971 •Czech

In the morning twilight of Prague, the dead body of the safe-breaker Toufar is found floating on the river Vltava with a knife in his back. Police inspectors visit Toufar's lover, the prostitute Anna Kulatá (Jirina Bohdalová), nicknamed Umbrella, and it is apparent that the moment before she opened the door of her flat, someone fled through the window. Umbrella is summoned for examination to the head of the criminal police - Police Councilman Vacátko Jaroslav Marvan, but although shocked by the photograph of the dead man, she does not confess to anything. Before Toufar, Umbrella lived with the safe-breaker Penicka (Radoslav Brzobohatý), who loved her very much and made her quit her street trade. But when he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, Umbrella began to live with the brute Toufar, who chased her to street again. In the case of the murder, Penicka is therefore the prime suspect.

The Matches of a Beautiful Dragoon

August 1971 •Czech

In a suburban villa, a woman of means is murdered. Police Superintendent Zdychynec from the Prague Liben neighborhood reports the case to Police Councilman Vacátko, upon whose order an investigation is launched immediately. Zdychynec begins to suspect the wooer of his own daughter, a handsome dragoon named Rudi, of the crime. In Rudi's absence, Zdychynec searches his rented room in the apartment of the elegant Mrs Dragicová. All his findings - among others, sand left on Rudi's jackboots and a decent amount of money in his bedside table - convince the superintendent that he is following the right lead, especially when Rudi refuses to say where he was at the time of the murder.