On the Sunny Side (1933) - Vladislav Van&#269;ura 

Well the Czech Modernism series has finally reached Chicago, and this was the opening film. The film is not expertly made It has a clumsiness and incongruity that can alienate some modern viewers. What is endearing is the film's charm, much like Vigo's Zero for Conduct, which is so similar its striking. What's more amazing is both of these films came out in the same year, making it nearly impossible to cite one as influencing the other. The films flaw is in its design. The picture sets up some sort of narrative within its story that at times seems to fail. I thought that the story bounced back to the present tense, but only at the very end does the framing mechanism return. The film itself concerns an orphanage that is essentially run by the orphans. A sharp contrast to many films about horrific treatment at the hands of corrupt and unfeeling caretakers. This inmates-run-the-asylum principle is what makes the film fresh today. What's more striking is that the two main children have parents that are still alive. One too poor to support her child, and the other too dysfunctional. With any framing narrative within a narrative you're bound to have a certain suspension of disbelief, but once we forget the framing the story functions.