Report from the celebration of the fourteenth anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic held in front of the Municipal House in Prague on 28 October 1932. The gathering was attended by troops and legionnaires. A Philips Radio broadcast vehicle stands in front of the entrance. The segment includes a silent recording of a speech given by the Former Secretary of the National Committee and current Chairman of the Senate František Soukup.
The segment captures a military parade of new army recruits, held in Bratislava on 28 October 1931 as part of the celebration of the thirteenth anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic. The celebration opens with speeches by General František Škvor and Vladimír Krno, the Mayor of Bratislava. The city of Bratislava honours the 39th Infantry Regiment with the Czechoslovak War Cross and the honorary title "General Graziani´s Infantry Regiment of Reconnaissance". The 54th Artillery Regiment adopts the standard of the 109th and 153rd Artillery Regiments, made by the residents of the Jedlička Institute in Prague. The cavalry and infantry together with the military band take charge of the following parade.
The segment captures a commemorative act for General Milan Rastislav Štefánik held in Prague on 10 May 1919. The mourning procession moves along Na Příkopě Street and through the Powder Tower gate. The procession moves on towards Old Town Square and Invalidovna. General Otakar Husák delivers a speech from the stand. The event is attended by Deputy of the Revolutionary National Assembly František Udržal and Chief of Staff of the Czechoslovak Army General Maurice Pellé.
The segment captures the funeral of the Bishop of Prague Jan Nepomuk Sedlák, held in Prague on 3 October 1930. The funeral procession with church dignitaries sets out from the Archbishop´s Palace in Hradčany towards Hradčany Square and St. Vitus Cathedral. After the funeral ceremony and requeim, the remains of the late bishop were interred at St. Matthew Cementery in Prague-Dejvice (not seen in the footage).
The first, retrospective part of this segment consists of archival images of actor and theatre director Karel Vávra cast in the role of the investigating judge in Dostoevsky´s Crime and Punishment and in a civilian photo. The second part captures the actor´s funeral in Prague on 14 April 1931. The coffin containing the body of the deceased is carried out of the building of the Vinohrady Theatre in Prague. The segment includes two overhead shots showing the large funeral procession on Peace Square.
The segment captures the funeral of YMCA Secretary James B. McCreary, who died in a tragic accident on 7 July 1919 while recording an attempt to fly under the Railway Bridge in Prague. During the attempt, the plane went off course and crashed into the boat from which McCreary was filming the event. The funeral procession of American soldiers and Czechoslovak legionnaires emerges from the building of the military hospital on Charles Square (a former Jesuit residence hall) and continues along Ječná Street. A view of the coffin draped in an American flag and a crowd of mourners in the streets of Prague´s New Town.
The segment captures the funeral of Bishop Antonín Podlaha held in Prague on 18 February 1932. The coffin with the deceased is loaded onto a horse-drawn hearse. The funeral procession with church dignitaries makes its way across Hradčany Square, the first and second courtyards of Prague Castle and then stops in the third courtyard in front of the St. Vitus Cathedral.
The segment captures the funeral of the wife of President T. G. Masaryk Ï the writer and feminist Charlotta Garrigue-Masaryk Ï held in Lány on 15 May 1923. The coffin is loaded onto a hearse in front of the Lány Chateau. The funeral procession sets out from the chateau towards the cemetery in Lány. The coffin is carried by Czechoslovak legionnaires; President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, with his children Alice, Jan and Olga Masaryk, son-in-law Henri Revilliod, Herbert Masaryk's widow Bohumila Masaryková Slavíčková, and granddaughters Anna and Herberta walk behind the coffin. The large funeral procession includes the Chief of the Czechoslovak Main Staff of the Armed Forces General Eugene Mittelhauser, Deputy of the National Assembly František Tomášek, the Senator of the National Assembly, Václav Klofáč, Minister of Foreign Affairs Edvard Beneš, Chancellor Přemysl Šámal, Minister of Health Jan Šrámek, Minister of National Defence František Udržal, Minister of Agriculture Milan Hodža, Prague Mayor Karel Baxa and Minister of Social Welfare Gustav Habrman. The segment ends with an image of the Lány cemetery.
Short footage from the funeral of entrepreneur and head of the footwear imperium Tomáš Baťa and pilot Jindřich Brouček, who tragically died in a plane crash on 12 July 1932. On 14 July, crowds of people gather in the courtyard of the Zlín factory and look on as the plane in which Tomáš Bat´a and his pilot crashed passes by. This is followed by a speech by Jan Antonín Baťa delivered on 12 July 1933, on the first anniversary of his brother´s tragic death (original sound).