I found this film, with English subtitles available, on a Film Export Home Video DVD in Prague in 2010. The DVD contains a "double-bill" of "Divka v modrem" (Girl in Blue) and a Czech drama from the same era, "Turbina" (Turbine).
"Divka v modrem" (Girl in Blue) is a reasonably charming comedy about a middle-class Czech man who falls in love with a beautiful girl portrayed in a 300 year-old painting, that is rumored to be cursed.
The story starts in the modern day (1940s) as the furnishings of a great castle are sold at auction. On sale with everything else is the painting. The girl in the painting, it is said, is a vampire: the painting has been cursed, and three successive male generations of the same family have fallen under its spell and ultimately perished at the foot of the painting.
Oldrich Novy plays the mild mannered notary who has fallen in love with the girl in the painting. When the painting fails to sell at auction, he ends up taking it home for safe-keeping, to await the arrival of the next generation of the great family, who is due to arrive shortly.
Our hero is also suffering the attentions of two women, a widow and a young girl with a pushy mother... both of whom seem to think that this well-connected notary and accountant is a perfect matrimonial catch. But he has eyes only for the "girl in blue" in the painting. Late at night, overcome by her beauty, he reaches up to kiss the painting, and his kiss brings the girl to life, and she steps right out of the picture frame.
A three hundred year-old countess, in the flesh, turns out to be much more to handle than our hero has ever imagined. She is used to luxury and servants to wait upon her, and she has no notion of modern inventions or fashion. The notary also has trouble explaining the sudden appearance of an extraordinarily beautiful young woman in his apartment overnight.
The story plays out with genuine humor, but also with a number of logical inconsistencies. A willing suspension of disbelief is required from the audience in order to thoroughly accept the story and the magical transformation (without the benefit of sophisticated visual effects). Nevertheless, I enjoyed the movie, and will definitely recommend it to friends.
"Divka v modrem" (Girl in Blue) is a reasonably charming comedy about a middle-class Czech man who falls in love with a beautiful girl portrayed in a 300 year-old painting, that is rumored to be cursed.
The story starts in the modern day (1940s) as the furnishings of a great castle are sold at auction. On sale with everything else is the painting. The girl in the painting, it is said, is a vampire: the painting has been cursed, and three successive male generations of the same family have fallen under its spell and ultimately perished at the foot of the painting.
Oldrich Novy plays the mild mannered notary who has fallen in love with the girl in the painting. When the painting fails to sell at auction, he ends up taking it home for safe-keeping, to await the arrival of the next generation of the great family, who is due to arrive shortly.
Our hero is also suffering the attentions of two women, a widow and a young girl with a pushy mother... both of whom seem to think that this well-connected notary and accountant is a perfect matrimonial catch. But he has eyes only for the "girl in blue" in the painting. Late at night, overcome by her beauty, he reaches up to kiss the painting, and his kiss brings the girl to life, and she steps right out of the picture frame.
A three hundred year-old countess, in the flesh, turns out to be much more to handle than our hero has ever imagined. She is used to luxury and servants to wait upon her, and she has no notion of modern inventions or fashion. The notary also has trouble explaining the sudden appearance of an extraordinarily beautiful young woman in his apartment overnight.
The story plays out with genuine humor, but also with a number of logical inconsistencies. A willing suspension of disbelief is required from the audience in order to thoroughly accept the story and the magical transformation (without the benefit of sophisticated visual effects). Nevertheless, I enjoyed the movie, and will definitely recommend it to friends.
