"Never before have I seen so many unsightly faces on-screen in one place!” Carlo Ponti was said to have exclaimed in outrage, at the same time refusing to invest the promised sum for the production of this satirical comedy. He would probably have found other reasons for further indignation since, as in other films from Forman’s Czechoslovak era, it lacks a robust story and dependable plotline and, instead of a strong leading man, the film offers us a community hall full of essentially anonymous outsiders. But the things Forman does with them! He transformed the pub which hosts the firemen’s ball into an arena where various human failings and peccadilloes are paraded in the harshest light even though the situations that play out here appear irresistibly comical and highly entertaining. The Firemen’s Ball, the last film Forman shot in his native country, is more than a brilliant typology of his characters’ behaviour, however. The provincial ball with its spectacularly unsuccessful accompanying programme, and the ensuing fiasco when the firemen are called out to an actual fire, could clearly be used in a parable about the destructive force of small-mindedness.

General partner of the digital restauration is Czech Film Foundation.