Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet

ADELA HAS NOT HAD SUPPER YET (ADÉLA JEŠTĚ NEVEČEŘELA), 1978, NFA, 102 min. "Within that bizarre flower lies a huge enigma," muses Nick Carter, America's Greatest Detective (Michal Dočolomanský), called to Prague to investigate the case of a missing dog and instead winding up in the jaws of a giant carnivorous plant controlled by his old nemesis, The Gardener (Miloš Kopecký), in Czech director Oldřich Lipský's beloved cult hit. Inspired by the Nick Carter dime novel detective stories created by John R. Coryell, ADELA is an irresistible slapstick combination of 19th century James Bond gadgetry, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, Blake Edwards circa THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN and Louis Feuillade silent serials like FANTÔMAS and JUDEX. In other words, a sheer delight. The second major comic hit from director Lipský and writer/animator Jiří Brdečka after their musical western spoof LEMONADE JOE (1966), ADELA features much of the same cast as their third and final satire THE MYSTERIOUS CASTLE IN THE CARPATHIANS (1981) including leads Dočolomanský, Kopecký and the wonderful Rudolf Hrušínský as a Pilsner-drinking sausage-eating police commissar who invariably saves the day. A loving tribute to the bygone days of old-world Prague, the film is literally filled with surreal, poetic moments and machinery - a balloon chase on a flying bicycle, a solar rifle, flowering vines serving tea - with the best by far being the Audrey-like man-eating plant designed and animated by the legendary Jan Švankmajer (who also contributed to MYSTERIOUS CASTLE IN THE CARPATHIANS several years later). Look for famed Czech actress Olga Schoberová (LEMONADE JOE, WHO KILLED JESSIE?, Hammer's THE VENGEANCE OF SHE) in a brief but memorable role as cabaret dancer Irma the Cat. Beautifully restored by the Národní filmový archiv, Prague, for release by Deaf Crocodile and Comeback Company.