Dinner for Adele


Dinner for Adele is a 1977 Czechoslovak comedy detective film directed by Oldřich Lipský. Alternative titles were Adele Hasn't Had Her Dinner Yet, Nick Carter in Prague and Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet.

Background

It combines the major idea of The Little Shop of Horrors by Roger Corman with the adventures of the literary character Nick Carter. It was directed by Oldřich Lipský with Rudolf Hrušínský, Michal Dočolomanský, and Miloš Kopecký in the leading roles. The bizarre gadgets and animated sequences were created by Jan Švankmajer, a famous Czech artist.

Plot

It is the turn from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. The Prague police commissar Ledvina asked the famous New York detective Nick Carter to travel to Prague, for assistance to solve the strange case of a missing dog. Mysterious murder cases happen during the investigations, done by the malicious botanist Baron von Kratzmar and his carnivorous plant Adela. Von Kratzmar kidnapped his victims, bound them and whenever he played a gramophone with the melody "Schlafe, mein Prinzchen" it is the time for Adela to awaken and eat her victims for dinner. Baron von Kratzmar considered himself a misjudged genius and wanted to take revenge on one of his former professors. He called himself "the Gardener" a notorious criminal, who Nick Carter thought had died in the swamps years ago. With the help of bizarre inventions, Ledvina and Carter succeed in catching von Kratzmar and delivering him to the legal authorities.

Awards and nominations

The film was also selected as the Czechoslovakian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 51st Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.