Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet — Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet ( Blu Ray)
Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet (aka Adéla Jeste Nevecerela) is a late 1970s Czech film, which is a pulp parody/ proto steampunk edged blend of comedy, mystery, and man-eating plant horror. It regards a ‘world famous’ American gumshoe going to Prague, looking for a lost dog and finding a master criminal/ uncovering his dastardly plans. Here from Deaf Crocodile is a region one/ A Blu-ray release of the film, including a new scan of the picture, a commentary track, and a few other extras.
Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet is from the year 1978. It was directed Pelhrimov, Czech Republic-born Oldrich Lipský. Between the early 1950s and mid-1980s, he had twenty-three feature credits to his name. These go from Circus set comedy Cirkus Bude(1954), running backwards black comedy Happy End (1967), steampunk horror-comedy The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians(1981), and satirical fairy tale fantasy The Three Veterans (1986)
The film opens rapidly, cutting between a man conducting an orchestra, and pulp comic book illustrations of detectives/ action heroes- in the end, the illustrations completely take over, as the credits unfold, then end. We’re then taken to the office of our film's lead character, Detective Nick Carter(Michal Docolomanský)- he’s reading at his desk, while sneaky criminals try to blow him up, shot him, etc- each time one of his many gadgets( controlled by pedals under his desk) foil their attempts.
As he reads his mail, he’s got a request to go to Prague from a Countess who has lost her companion, with cost no issue. He hooks up a book about Czech – getting dressed in traditional dress to try and fit in, but as he gets off the train in Prague, it’s clear he’s a hundred years out of date, as the film is set in the early 1900s.
Anyway, he gets to Countess' house, starting to do his investigating- he finds out her companion is not human, but a dog, to be more precise, a mastiff who likes to bark along while his mistress sings. The dog seemingly disappeared into thin air. He connects up with Pilsner drinking, sausage munching, guff, and moustached local policeman Commisar Ledvina- played by Czech acting legend Rudolf Hrusínský- who had over two hundred and twenty credits to his name.
As the highly pulpy and wacky tale unfolds, it seems that Carter's archenemy/ master criminal 'The Gardener’ may be behind everything, with his man-eating plant Adela. Added into the mix we have love interest for our gumshoe in the form of blond & pretty butterfly collector Kvetuska(Nada Konvalinková) who wants Carter let taste her ‘strawberry dumplings’.
The one-hour and forty-seven-minute film is a truly charming romp- as Carter and Ledvina do their investigating, spies pop up from drains & under tables, dastardly plans are made- as Adela is first fed with raw meat, then many mice, and finally humans.
Acting-wise wise Docolomanský( who here looks like a spit for The Divine Comedies Neil Hannon) is great in his role- balancing well pulp hero, with moments of bumbling award-ness- he has a great range of gadgets, many of these having a proto steampunk vibe- like walking up wall shoes, & flap wings ‘n’ helicopter hat get-up. Hrusínský is perfect as his sidekick- constantly on the lookout for sausages and fine Czech pilsner- incidentally, along the way finding cues. Also worth a mention is Milos Kopecký as our curled moustached baddie, wonderful at hamming things up.
I’d say that Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet will have a fairly wide appeal for all ages & types of folk. As yes, it’s wacky and at points surreal - it never gets too dark or adult- yes Adela is fairly gross/ but neat- with its slobbering tongue and multi tonsils lined mouth, it’s all kept fairly campy/ not too freaky.
Moving on to this new locked region one Blu-ray. It features a new HD scan of the film- this is full of lovely bold colourings, and largely good picture clarity throughout- save for a few brief moments of slight damage, but this largely sticks to one corner of the screen.
On the new extras side, we get a commentary track from Czech film expert Irena Kovarova of Comeback Company, and Czech film critic and screenwriter Tereza Brdečková- who is the daughter of one of the film's screenwriters. They begin by talking about Nick Carter charictor, and how the film, among many things, is a send-up of all things American. They touch on how the film was shot in 1977, which was one of the more difficult years the country had, as people had to sign a proclamation to the government. We find out that the idea of the film had been in the works since 1973, but took time to come to fruition, as during this time scripts/ ideas had to be sent to official government censors to see if they could make their ideas. Later on, they talk about key actors and actresses in the picture. We find out the film was a huge hit when it was first released- playing for fifteen weeks, three times a day. This is a fairly generally chatty chat, which isn’t always focused on the film to hand, though it’s worth a play, if you have a general interest in Czech film.
Otherwise on the extras side we get Four rare Jiří Brdečka animated shorts ( who worked on the Adela elements in the film) Badly Drawn Hen (Špatně namalovaná slepice / Gallina Vogelbirdae) – 1963, 13 min. Forester’s Song / To the Forest (Do lesíčka na čekanou) – 1966, 9 min. What Did I Not Tell The Prince (Co jsem princi neřekla) – 1975, 9 min. The Miner's Rose (Horníkova růže) – 1974, 8 min.
Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet is a great example of the more creative & playful side of Czech cinema. This new Deaf Crocodile release features a classy & bold new HD print, and a small but worthwhile selection of extras. If you've yet to see any 70’s Czech films, I'd say this is a great place to start.