On the Sunny Side (1933 film)

On the Sunny Side (Na sluneční straně) is a 1933 Czech drama film by the director Vladislav Vančura. The film is a social drama dealing with the themes of children poverty and neglect.

Plot
Babula is growing up in a rich family, but she's neglected by her parents. She's friends with a son of her family's maid, Honza. When Honza and his mother are thrown out by Babula's father, the two children perform on the streets to earn money. They get arrested and Honza is sent to a children's home 'On the Sunny Side'. Babula's mother tries to commit suicide and Alžběta is sent to the same place. In the children's home their lives get better under the influence of their progressive teacher.

Cast

 * Václav Vydra as Josef Rezek
 * Zdeňka Gräfová as Rezek's wife
 * Babula Treybalová as Alžběta "Babula" Rezková
 * Magda Kopřivová as Maid Anežka Kolbenová
 * Petr Schulhoff as Honza, son of Anežka
 * Jindřich Plachta as Teacher
 * Čeněk Šlégl as Counsellor
 * Růžena Šlemrová as Children's home director
 * Ludvík Veverka as Seidl
 * Hana Beckmannová as Insurance company agent Willi

Production
Vančura was a Marxist and his ideas for the movie were influenced by a Russian educator Anton Makarenko. The screenplay was written by an avantgarde writer Vítězslav Nezval, a literary theorist Roman Jakobson and a pedagogue Miloslav Disman. The film was shot in the streets of Prague. The children's home scenes were shot at Zbraslav Monastery.

Release
The premiere was held in Prague on 1 December 1933. The film was received negatively by film critics. The reviews mentioned amateurish direction and technical qualities of the movie. In 2017 the film was screened at MoMA as a part of Czech cinema retrospective 'Ecstasy and Irony: Czech Cinema, 1927–1943'.