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Blog by Don Kennedy

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I Served the King of England

I Served the King of England is not the boast that the protagonist of this pre and post Nazi Czech comedy. He is Jan Díte played as a younger opportunist by Ivan Barnev and by Oldrich Kaiser in his reflective twilight years. Our hero aspires to be in that class but never seems to have the moral fibre. Jan was a long time protégé of a maitre‘d at Prague’s prestigious Hotel Paris who was a royal server and who almost received a medal from the king of Ethiopia. This literally turned out to be too tall of an order so the medal went to Jan and his bragging rights to that award prove useful later in life. Jan’s career as a waiter at several high end establishments was made possible by a rich benefactor who saw his potential and also coached Jan on his prime interest, acquiring wealth. With his quirky coin tossing he discovers early on that no matter who, people will do anything for money - but never seems to be able to turn that to his advantage. Although through reflective voiceovers Jan often laments about bad luck, as a young man he seems very fortunate with women although mostly because he had money. That luck with women seems to run out during the war when he marries his one true love and she turns out to be a raving Hitler youth. Often served with a side of fantasy especially when the idle rich are on screen I Served The King of England may come up for review at Oscar time for best foreign language film.

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