The Last Bohemian Review: A Dusty, Drunken Time Capsule

If you have seventy minutes to spare and want to feel like you are sitting in a smoky Prague tavern in 1931, yes, The Last Bohemian is worth your time. It is a loose, slightly shambolic comedy that will delight anyone who loves early European talkies, but anyone looking for a tight plot or clean jokes will probably hate it.

The whole thing feels incredibly casual, like the director just let the cameras roll while a bunch of theater actors got slightly tipsy. There is barely a plot here, just a series of misadventures about a guy who simply refuses to get a real job or take life seriously.

I kept thinking about how different this feels from other European movies of the era. While Germany was making heavy, dark stuff like Westfront 1918, the Czechs were apparently just vibing in pubs.

The Art of the Shaggy Dog Story

Saša Rašilov plays the main guy, and he has this wonderful, rubbery face that looks constantly amused by his own bad decisions. He spends most of his time trying to dodge landords and find someone else to pay for his next drink.

There is this one scene where he tries to explain his philosophy of life to a very confused dog. The dog looks genuinely bored, which made me laugh out loud.

It is the kind of humor that does not rely on punchlines, just on the sheer absurdity of the situation. Some of the gags go on way too long, though.

For instance, there is a bit with a hat that must take up five whole minutes. By the third time the hat falls off, you are just waiting for them to move on.

A Time Capsule of Old Prague

What I loved most was just looking at the backgrounds. The dusty streets, the weirdly shaped beer glasses, and the giant, heavy coats everyone wears.

It has that same scratchy, primitive sound quality you find in other early sound films like Blackmail, where every footstep sounds like someone dropping a wet phone. It adds to the charm, honestly.

Hugo Haas shows up too, looking incredibly young and sporting a mustache that deserves its own acting credit. He has this manic energy that keeps the middle section from dragging too much.

But then the movie just sort of... ends. It does not really resolve anything, it just stops when they run out of film, I guess.

Still, there is a warmth to it that you do not get in modern comedies. It is just a bunch of friends messing around in front of a camera, and sometimes, that is more than enough.

Random thoughts while watching:

• The piano music in the background is incredibly loud, sometimes drowning out the actual dialogue.
• I am convinced at least three of the extras in the pub scene were actually asleep.
• That one guy's beard looks like it was glued on five minutes before the cameras started rolling.