His hero is a thoroughly callow youngster, descendant of a formidable line of small-time braggarts and show-offs, who gets himself a job as an apprentice train dispatcher at a country station somewhere west of Prague, evidently with no greater ambition than to become another uniform-wearing stuffed shirt.

Awesomely and enviously, he watches the nonchalance and dexterity with which his immediate superior, the dispatcher Hubieka, tosses off his modest duties of waving on the trains that come roaring through the station, tending the switches and telegraph instruments, and especially the skill with which he manages to enjoy himself with available members of the opposite sex.

Nervously, our young hero tries to emulate the older man, particularly with a pretty woman train conductor who passes through from time to time. But things don’t work out for him as nicely as he realizes they should; he fails at a delicate moment of crisis, and is thrown into a mood of despair. In the end, however, through the interest of his friends and a series of taut events, he is able to meet not one crisis but two and thoroughly prove himself a man.

On January 6, 92YTribeca will screen Closely Watched Trains, part of the series Closely Watched Films, hosted by Elliott Kalan.

Upcoming Film events at 92YTribeca include: Chinese and a Movie: Mel Brooks Double Feature (Dec 25), Owning the Weather (Jan 7), and Bill Plympton and Signe Baumane Present Animated Short Films on (Jan 13).

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