We’ve come to know the American brand of action films—think Harry Houdini or Charles Hutchison—and Pancéřové auto, which has very little that’s genuinely Czech aside from a few Prague backdrops, could easily pass for one of them. It has all the ingredients: fistfights, stunts, Americanized names… and occasionally, if you look past the action, you catch a glimpse of Prague’s skyline with its iconic castle. Among the cast there’s even what looks like a half-double of Louise Brooks, or perhaps closer to Colleen Moore (Ida Fuchsová). Rarely have I seen such a direct cinematic imitation!

The story follows banker Sam Hamilton (Hans Mierendorff), who finds himself at war with a gang that repeatedly targets his special shipments. To put an end to the robberies, he commissions a custom armored car, driven by professional racer Charly Allan (Carlo Aldini). But during a party at the Hamilton home, the gang kidnaps Bessy (Zet Molas), Sam’s daughter. Charly and his friend Frank (Carl Walther Meyer) set out to track her down. Before long, Charly traces the getaway car back to the garage of Nick Houlton (Jan W. Speerger), where the armored car itself is also being held. After a string of chases, stunts, and close calls, our hero manages to bring down the gang and rescue the damsel in distress.

There isn’t too much to say about this film—it’s enjoyable enough if you like the genre, with a few well-shot sequences, but it’s really just pure entertainment. The big set piece is the finale aboard an airplane. It’s fun, though not exactly on par with Houdini’s spectacular feats—but then again, the production resources were on a very different scale. The most interesting aspect, honestly, is seeing how the Czech industry tried to cash in on the popularity of this kind of American action picture, without adding much of its own identity. Even the musicians at the party where Bessy is kidnapped are unmistakably African American jazz players!

I’d only recommend giving it a look to see this curiosity for yourself: if you weren’t told it was a Czech production, you’d never guess. And here, the lack of translated intertitles isn’t even a problem—everything is so formulaic that you’ll have no trouble following along.

This article was originally published in Italian on emutofu.com