Czech Film Evening
The Coach House, Malvern Theatres
The Hop-Pickers (1964): When Prague Summer Turned to Spring

The Hop-Pickers (Starci na chmelu) is a film that has been labelled the first Czech film musical. It was West Side Story that inspired filmmaker Ladislav Rychman and screenwriter Vratislav Blažek to introduce the musical genre to their native Czech cinema.

A smash hit upon its release in 1964, the film is set during the annual summer hop harvest and focuses on the lives and loves of the nation’s youth, assembled into the socialist agricultural brigade to bring the harvest in.

Made two years before the Dubček liberalisation programme it is interesting to compare with The Beatles and other well-known British groups.

This is a Midsummer Malvern event