Klapzub's Eleven

The humorous novel Klapzub's Eleven was written by Eduard Bass in 1922. It can hardly be described better than as a football fairy tale for adults. Old Klapzuba, the father of eleven able-bodied sons, transforms their zest for life into a unique football eleven that first leaves the rainforest league at rocket speed to win on every field in the world...

This football dream of all Czech fans has received many treatments: already in 1935, a dramatisation by František Kožík, directed by Josef Bezdíček and starring Karel Höger, Karel Klika and other members of the drama troupe of the Zemsky Theatre in Brno, was staged in the Brno radio studio and according to contemporary reviews it was a success. Three years later, a feature film was made (directed by Ladislav Brom), the positive aspect of which was the casting of Theodor Pištěk as the old Klapzuba, the negative aspect almost everything else, especially the insensitive screenwriting. Exactly thirty years later - in 1968 - director Eduard Hofman made a co-production television series starring Jan Werich and Peter Ustinov in miniature roles, but the director was unable to maintain either the narrative line or the viewer's interest; the show didn't even air in its premiere.