Zabil Jsem Einsteina, Panove

I Killed Einstein, Gentlemen

Czechoslovakia 1970
produced by
Filmové Studio Barrandov, Ceskoslovenský Státni Film
directed by Oldrich Lipský
starring Jiri Sovák, Jana Brejchová, Lubomír Lipský, Iva Janzurová, Petr Cepek, Radoslav Brzobohatý, Svatopluk Benes, Jan Libícek, Viktor Maurer, Milos Kopecký, Stella Zázvorková, Oldrich Musil, Josef Hlinomaz, Karel Effa, Josef Bláha, Josef Kemr, Vladimir Hlavatý, Josef Beyvl, Zdenek Díte, Andrea Cunderliková, Vlastimil Hasek, Ivo Gubel, Otto Lackovic, Václav Vydra, Helena Ruzicková, Josefa Pechlatová, Karel Pavlik, Regina Rázlová, Jaroslav Stercl, Jírí Krampol, Jarmila Gerlová, Stella Májová, Marcela Nohynkova, Jírí Hálek, Ivan Palec, Alois Zouhar
written by Milos Macourek, Josef Nesvadba, Oldrich Lipský, music by Vlastimil Hála

Einstein

review by
Mike Haberfelner

A few years in the future, the G-bomb has caused all women to become infertile - and grow beards. But the people of the future have found a solution to this: Travel back in time and kill Albert Einstein (Petr Cepek), the father of modern physics. And the whole thing is supposed to look like an accident, too, so physicists Moore (Jírí Sovak) and Pech (Lubomír Lipský), and seductive blond historian Gwen (Lana Brejchová) are sent back to Prague, 1911, where Einstein was almost killed by a falling chandelier during a dinner party. All they have to do is to see to it that Einstein sits on the chair under the chandelier a little longer ...

Our three explorers though manage to fuck things up royally, and what's worse (for the future), Gwen falls in love with Einstein. Eventually, instead of Einstein, a young boy is killed, who just happened to be the future father of Pech, so Pech disappears from the face of the earth, and from all history.

Back in the future, Gwen if promptly kidnapped by rebel leader Robert (Radoslav Brzobohatý), who for whatever reason doesn't want Einstein to be killed, and he persuades Gwen to go back in time to save Einstein ... because Moore is sure to go back in time again, and this time he brings another seductive blonde, Pech's wife Betsy (Iva Janzurová), who wants to make sure her future husband is born and his future father isn't killed, with him. Everything leads to massive confusion when Moore and Betsy as well as Robert and Gwen dress up as servants at the dinner party in question and try to make Einstein sit in the chair that's going to be hit or avoid the chair that's going to be hit, respectively, but in the end, Gwen saves Einstein from the falling chandelier. Moore though is not one to easily give up, so he shoots Einstein dead ... or so he thinks, Gwen has somehow anticipated this and only faked Einstein's death. But she knows she owes it to her own time to prevent Einstein from becoming who he was, so she persuades him he's at best a mediocre physicist but a great violinist.

Moore returns to the future - to find there was no G-bomb no more, nor any other bomb, but now chemical warfare has turned all men infertile and grow tits. So he himself has to invent the G-bomb to counteract the effect of chemical warfare and make the world a fertile place once again.

And at the celebration that marks Moore's triumph, Albert Einstein, the world-reknowned violinist, and his wife Gwen are guests of honour ...

Several plot devices of this film might anticipate The Terminator from about one and a half decades later, but in approach, the two films have little in common, as I Killed Einstein, Gentlemen is actually a comedy that relies in equal parts on well-executed slapstick, clever satire and tongue-in-cheek variations of genre mainstays. That the whole thing works quite so well is basically thanks to the fact that it's really cleverly written, and despite being deliberately over-convoluted it never loses one of its multiple narrative threads. On top of that, the film is self-confident enough to rely on a rather relaxed pace and not for a moment becomes moronic enough to insult the audience's intelligence.

Great fun, actually!

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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