Cutting It Short

Francin, manager of a small-town brewery, has a charming wife whose abundant blonde locks are an adornment to the town. Maryška looks ethereal but loves meat and beer, while Francin is an ascetic. The strict members of the brewery board of directors come to audit the accounts, but are diverted from concentrating on Francin's detailed reports by Maryška, who has organized a pig-killing feast and is ably assisting the butcher. When she invites the old curmudgeons on the board to enjoy the fresh pork, they are too happy to agree. Francin doesn't know whether he is going to get a permanent contract. To make things worse his brother Pepin - eccentric, noisy and garrulous - turns up on an indefinite visit. Pepin's interventions cause the maltster a whole series of accidents, and his loud talk upsets the deliberations of the board.