Fox Mystery Theater (TV Series) Czech Mate (1984) User Reviews

All is not what it seems

[analoguebubblebath · 7/10 · 8 October 2003]

First viewing: September 1984 / Second viewing: October 2003. Susan George gets caught up in a nightmare in austere Prague. Invited by her recently-walked-back-into-her-life estranged husband, things turn sinister when he disappears soon after their arrival. What then follows in this "Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense" episode is nasty: a murder, a chase by Peter Vaughan aka McVities Fruit Shorties man, rogue British embassy men and a bizarre appearance by Eastenders' Pat Butcher in the last reel. 7/10

Rather long, but has suspense

[andreygrachev · 6/10 · 27 July 2008]

We just saw this series of Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense Czech Mate (#1.3)" . The film is OK, but too long and shot in Vienna , not in Prague.. It has a lot of detective spy quests. The film has fantastic music and good acting.. For all the fans of late Hammer is recommended. We liked the end, it is so true and dramatic. We have not seen much works of John Hough,but he seems to be a master.

For those who like detectives

Then Vienna was very beautiful

We are looking forward to seeing more films Enter Comment for "Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense and by John Hough

Nice

[gianmarcoronconi · 7/10 · 9 September 2022]

Spying episode made by and against a poor unsuspecting woman who suddenly finds herself at the center of a whirlwind of spies and secret services. The episode is very cold war and manages to give you a feeling of constant danger and uncertainty. The ending is perhaps the most beautiful, apt and natural thing about the episode as that's just how you expect this movie to end. Obviously the film has some plot defects that is left perhaps too much to itself with some slightly forced timing choices and the writing of the protagonist is also a problem that makes too impulsive and wrong choices, it seems that the more she knows what surrounds her the more she herself get into trouble and situations that won't end well.

Excellent from start to finish.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 20 March 2024]

Vicky Duncan receives a visit from her ex husband John Patrick, he invites her on a trip to Prague, and all seems perfect, that is, until she's implicated in the murder of a man found in her hotel room. Vicky faces a nightmare in Prague as John and her husband vanish.

I think this is perhaps my favourite entry in the series, it's an excellent, intriguing tale of deception and espionage. So good, I had to watch it twice, it allows you to spot all of the little details, details that all add up when you reach the conclusion.

There's definitely a cold war vibe, Prague seems wonderfully cold and sinister. Production values are terrific, helped enormously by the location filming, Prague looks incredible.

Susan George is excellent as Vicky, and what an incredibly beautiful woman, she oozes class. Peter Vaughan also, terrific as the apparent villain of the piece.

9/10.

A modern variation on Kafka's "the Trial"

[moviegoingcat · 10/10 · 9 March 2006]

This is a sleeper of a film (British TV movie). Susan George is a variation on K in The Trial. Instead of someone accusing her of something, however, it is her trashy ex-husband who lures her to Prague on what is supposed to be a romantic business trip. He buys her clothes as well working on her appearance. He hands their passports to a 'clerk' in the hotel and of course both the husband and the passports disappear shortly afterwards. Eventually a dead man is found in her hotel room. There are the usual cold war spy story props but at the end..it is very clear that Vicky Duncan (Susan George) has ended up in a position like k's in The Trial. She has trusted the wrong people and put up a good fight but she has lost and lands up in a Czech mental hospital labeled a case of identity psychosis. The husband has left for England with his 'lover', a Czech agent who bears a slight resemblance to the unfortunate wife.

Don't Leave me this way...

[canndyman · 8/10 · 23 August 2020]

When TV researcher Vicky Duncan's ex-husband John suddenly walks back into her life, it seems that love will blossom for them once more, second time around.

After much persuasion from John, Vicky reluctantly agrees to join him on a business trip to Prague. But, soon after checking in to their hotel, Vicky finds that John has mysteriously disappeared. Worse still, so has his luggage and the couple's passports....

This turns out to be a fairly somber entry in the series - but that isn't to say that it isn't intriguing or suspenseful. The austere backdrop of Prague (it was actually filmed in Vienna) seems to emphasize Vicky's lonely and desperate plight - miles from her cozy cottage in Ascot in a rather unforgiving foreign land.

Susan George puts in a good shift (and pretty-much carries the whole story) as the beleaguered Vicky, and the ever-reliable Patrick Mower is charmingly effective as her betraying and deceitful husband.

This was apparently the first story of Hammer House of Mystery & Suspense to be filmed - in tandem with Sweet Scent of Death back in England, and the Vienna locations certainly add an extra dimension to the production - the only episode filmed outside of the UK.

Vicky's desperate plight leaves the viewer really rooting for her, and the hope of a resolution and due justice being served. But is this only just the start of her nightmares...