Ať žije nebožtík (1935)

Alice Machová works at a hospital and also cares for the wealthy Petr Kornel. The old man decides to leave her part of his estate on the condition that she gets married. He puts the will in her handbag. Kornel has made this decision because his only relative, his nephew Petr Suk, is, in his words, a loafer, gambler, and debauchee who does nothing but run up debts. He has also ordered him not to bring shame on the family name and to change his name. By chance, Alice finds a groom. Petr Suk goes to see a doctor for an examination. In the waiting room, the appointment slips get mixed up, and Baltazar, Suk’s servant, who is waiting for the results, learns from the professor that his master has only 24 hours to live. When Suk finds out, he places a notice of his death in the next day’s newspaper and heads to the Tip Top Bar for one last binge. Very drunk when he leaves, he gets into a car outside the bar, and another car crashes into it from behind. Suk hits a lamppost and immediately falls asleep. He is taken to the hospital where Alice works. Suk stirs his coffee with a thermometer. The nurses assume that, with a temperature of 43°C, he will not survive for long. So one of the nurses asks Petr Suk to do a good deed: she suggests that he marry Alice. Suk agrees, and they get married right away in a hospital room. When Suk wakes up, sober after sleeping off the alcohol, he escapes from the hospital. When Alice finds the bed empty, she assumes her newlywed husband has died. Meanwhile, the radiology institute discovers that the X-rays were mixed up and informs Baltazar and the authorities. Suk’s creditors hear the same news. In the meantime, acting on Suk’s instructions, Baltazar sells all the furniture in the apartment to pay off the debts. When Kornel hears that Alice’s new husband has died, he takes her to his small château in Dubí to recover and invites a few of his friends there as well. Suk notices the ring on his hand and realizes that he got married in the hospital. He did not see his wife, however, because he was lying in bed with a compress over his face during the wedding. Suk decides to ask his uncle for money one last time, promising to disappear from Europe. He and Baltazar set off for the château, but Kornel’s housekeeper Barbora, who has known Suk since childhood, warns him that Kornel does not like hearing about him, so he should leave. That evening, Suk meets the guests and also meets the beautiful Alice, with whom he falls in love immediately. Alice, in turn, gradually comes to like Suk. The housekeeper tells Alice that Suk is Kornel’s nephew. Suk tries to get into Alice’s room through the window, but Kornel is sleeping there. When Kornel then discovers that Suk is at the château, he and his assistants try to catch him. Suk hides in the château, disguising himself as an upholsterer and a singing teacher, with Barbora and Alice helping him. Baltazar tells Alice that Suk is married, and Suk admits that he is “sort of—it’s hardly worth mentioning.” When Kornel realizes that Alice has fallen in love with Suk, he says he will either have to kill him or forgive him for her sake. Suk goes to see the lawyer, Dr. Liška, who writes Alice a letter saying that her husband is alive but was married against his will. He asks Alice to come to his law office and proposes a divorce. When Suk arrives, he does not even want to see his wife, and the lawyer discusses the divorce with each of them in separate rooms. Kornel arrives too and, by chance, learns from the lawyer that Alice’s current husband, Petr Suk, was originally named Petr Kornel—in other words, he is Kornel’s nephew. He tells Alice. So she refuses to agree to a divorce, which Suk, sitting in the next office and waiting to sign the papers, cannot understand. He tells the lawyer that he will take the matter to court. Until then, he will take his wife home. He intends to make their life together so unbearable that she will agree to a divorce. When Kornel comes to Suk’s apartment, the veiled wife sitting in the other room reveals herself to Suk, and he discovers that she is actually his beloved Alice.