Trnka took on modern issues in the film Cybernetic Grandma. © Kratky Film Praha.

Starting in February of 1948, even the Communists enjoyed his work and subsidized all of his following films. It seemed to them that puppets were for children, and that they could not cause any political harm; however, until the late '80s two parts of the film Spring,with a procession of Christians, and The Legend of St. Prokopwere banned as church propaganda. When Trnka finished the national fairytale Bajajain 1950 he was greatly honoured by the regime. But when he wanted to adapt Don Quijote in 1951, his project was banned by the Government as too cosmopolitan. There always existed two sides to the Government's "generous" hand. Instead of Don Quijote,he was pressed to create historic myths in The Old Czech Legends(1952). Trnka didn't want to. He'd rather have quit working at the studio and gone back to illustrating children's book, but in solitude he found the clue to this theme. There are strong and brilliant scenes in the film, great character animation and superb music, more in the way of Janacek than Smetana. Trnka became a real filmmaker with this film but he was right: such a theme had a very limited audience. Even Czechs did not appreciate a filmed version of the history that they had to learn at school.

Several of Trnka's films were banned for religeous images like this one in The Archangel Gabriel and Lady Goose. © Kratky Film Praha.	Trnka at work on Good Soldier Shweik. © Kratky Film Praha.

After this limited success, he did three short adaptations of Hasek's famous classic The Good Soldier Sweik(1954) which made Trnka loved by the whole nation at last. But he was still looking for an internationally known classic story where he could speak to the audience using his art. He was a kind of Renaissance man unfortunately born in the wrong time and wrong country. But in 1955 he started and in 1959 he finished his masterpiece, the wide screen puppet feature film The Midsummer Night's Dreamand -- it failed. Both abroad and at home too. Even -- or because -- this adaptation of Shakespeare contains Trnka's entire opinions and esthetic notions about a puppet film. The elements he used were: an internationally known story, a carefully prepared screenplay (co-writer J. Brdecka), perfect characters and brilliant puppet animation, not too much dialogue and only a few lines of narration from time to time. Trnka never allowed lip-synch, he thought it was barbaric for puppets-sculptures-subjects of art to be treated in this manner. Music was always preferred to the spoken word. He often discussed his projects with the composer (V.Trojan) before he beginning work on a screenplay. When the musical score was composed before the animation and he liked it -- he would even change his animation arrangement to fit the music. I think it is obvious why his Dreamfailed by most of journalists abroad and by ordinary adult audience too: they felt themselves lost in the picturesque but intricate story. I'm afraid they were not prepared for it. Trnka was strongly criticized at home as creating l'art pour l'art (art for art's sake) and loosing touch with the working class. Let's see the film today! Not on TV but on the wide screen at the cinema as it was intended and created by its creator to be. Trnka shot the film with two parallel cameras (classic and wide screen format which was a novelty at that time) because he did not believe in "compositions seen through a mailbox slot." Thus he created gorgeous work.

A reception of The Dreamwas a great disappointment for Trnka, he worked for years on it. Days and nights were spent in shooting, with everybody sleeping in the studio. It cost him his health but he was a strong man and a workaholic. He went back to his book illustrating, painting and sculpture but in the next few years he made another four short puppet films: The Passion(1961), The Cybernetic Grandma(1962), The Archangel Gabriel and Lady Goose after Boccacio(1964) and the classic The Hand (1965).