Magnificent screenplay based on Hasek's famous book. I used to read the book translated in English whenever I felt down.
This movie (and its sequel) is a best adaptation of the classical Czech book The Good Soldier Svejk to date. True to the book with the best Czech actors this adaptation just can't be bested.
There seems to be a certain confusion concerning the various early Czech versions of Dobrý voják vejk ("shvake" not "svake"). The cast given here is for the 1926 version directed by Karel Lamač ("match" rather than "mats") and starring Karl Noll.
I was extremely eager to see this film when it was shown (in July 1996) at the Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna; they screened a print from the Narodni Filmovy Archiv with the original Czech intertitles. Fortunately, much of the broad comedy in this film works splendidly even for viewers like me who aren't fluent in Czech.
There exist three film adaptation of the brave soldier vejk made in Czechoslovakia (and one animate version). The first two were made before WW II (one is mute).
