Product Details

• Actors: Václav Neckár, Josef Somr, Vlastimil Brodský, Vladimír Valenta, Alois Vachek
• Directors: Jirí Menzel
• Writers: Jirí Menzel, Bohumil Hrabal
• Producers: Carlo Ponti, Zdenek Oves
• Format: Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Language: Czech, German
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Homevision
• VHS Release Date: July 18, 2000
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0780023617
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #212,414 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Jiri Menzel's funny, tragic 1966 film, set during the years of Germany's occupation of Czechoslovakia, may be admired today more out of nostalgia than anything, but in fact it holds up very well as a wry satire from the years of the Czech New Wave. Vaclav Neckar stars as an unambitious youth whose chief preoccupation is a wish for sex, but who secondarily sees the draw of joining the organized Resistance movement. The latter, however, would require energy and focus, and Neckar's character--who does as little work as possible as an apprentice railway platform guard--prefers the inertia of his small-town depot. Spending his time observing the philandering of an older guard, keeping clear of his wild-eyed boss, and flirting with the female conductor of a passing train, the young hero has his priorities in order but must deal with an increasing responsibility to a larger rebellion. The film has a nice mix of rural lethargy, surreal hints, and comic knowingness about the landscape of teenage ambivalence. Finally, there is something else: the shock of a confrontation between dreams and real-world obligation, particularly in a world gone mad through no fault of one's own. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

This Academy Award winning film is a tragicomedy about sex and its relation to political consciousness. Set during the Nazi occupation during World War II, a teenage railway trainee is determined to lose his virginity, driven to a suicide attempt, and becomes a hero of the resistance. All this takes place against the backdrop of a country railroad station where the passengers and the main characters humorously try to forget about the war all around them.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece, September 30, 2001

By 

Gordon Skene - See all my reviews

This review is from: Closely Watched Trains (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

I remember seeing this film as a teenager when it first came out and have loved it ever since. I've also seen it about forty times and, like the wonderful book you read over and over, this film continues to be a revelation. It is darkly comic, wonderfully well drawn and has, to my mind probaby the single sexiest scene ever put on film (the famous "rubber stamp" sequence).

The real tragedy of this film however, is the director Jiri Menzel, whose many films have never seen the light of day in this country. A victim of the Soviet crackdown on Czechoslovakia in 1968, Menzel's follow-up film, the absurd and outrageously funny "Larks On A String" was banned until only a few years ago when it was briefly shown in the U.S. and had an even briefer run on VHS (hint-hint: a DVD please??). Clearly, Menzel was/is a genius whose gift was stopped in its tracks by the ugly spectre of politics.

Menzel, like his fellow film makers Milos Forman, and Ivan Passar has a unique and important voice. "Closely Watched Trains" is a masterpiece in its richness of character and observation on the human condition. There is not a single false moment, nor badly cast character in the entire film. It is a rewarding experience and one to savor over and over again. I don't know how many films can make that claim, but this is one film I will see for a very long time to come. I'm so glad the DVD has finally come out - I've worn out three VHS copies over the years.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars (Ostre sledované vlaky), January 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Closely Watched Trains [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The misadventures of a fledgling male, confronting the adult world for the first time, become a dark comedy about lost innocence and transitory accomplishments. The young hero, Milos, assumes the responsibility of his first job as a stationmaster's assistant in a village outside Prague. He is a frightened faun of a youth, all eyes and knobby knees, settling into the routines of a railway employee's life, and seldom removing his cherished cap, even in bed. The comic balance between Milos's shyness in both love and business matters, and the satirical look at small-town ribaldry, hypocrisy, and isolationism is overshadowed by the presence of the Germans. (It is the 1940s.) Menzel's film is a second look, filled with wit and pathos, at a particular Czech Everyman, catching every nuance of Milos's bright, often painful revelations, and leaving the spectator stunned by the inevitability of an unexpected fate.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, July 16, 2006

By 

R. Albin (Ann Arbor, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Closely Watched Trains (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

Based on an outstanding short novel by the Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal, Closely Watched Trains is probably the finest film of the Czech New Wave. The New Wave resulted from a period of experimentation that resulted from the liberalization of the Communist Party that produced the Prague Spring and was terminated by the Soviet invasion. The wit and humor with which Closely Watched Trains approaches Czech life during WWII was undoubtedly a major departure from the conventional party ideology. As commented by other reviewers, Closely Watched Trains is a witty sex comedy and ironic coming of age story. It is also a deeply ironic allegorical account of Czech history during WWII. Superbly filmed and acted.