Ninety Degrees in the Shade

It's very hot, putting a strain on everyone. A beautiful woman works in a shop in Czechoslovakia during the Communist era. She is in the late, disillusioned stages of an affair with a married man. Two government inspectors arrive to carry out an audit. The shop sells expensive alcoholic drinks. One inspector is relaxed, an old hand, but the other is a newcomer and meticulous. The heroine's boyfriend has stolen some bottles with her compliance. She manages to hide this from the meticulous inspector during the first day of the inspection. That night she and her boyfriend raise money and buy bottles to replace those he stole. That night also, we see the unhappy home life of the meticulous inspector - his alcoholic wife and lazy son. We are led to wonder if he has feelings for the heroine (the shop worker). On the second day of the inspection, the relaxed inspector of the pair drops a bottle and it breaks, leading to the discovery that almost all the bottles have had their contents stolen and are filled with tea. The film ends with an ambiguous act by the heroine, her motives unclear.

• James Booth as Milan Vorel
• Anne Heywood as Alena Burdová
• Rudolf Hrušínský as JUDr. Rudolf Kurka
• Ann Todd as Mrs. Kurková
• Donald Wolfit as Bažant
• Ladislav Potměšil as Jirka Kurka
• Jiřina Jirásková as Věra
• Vladimír Menšík as Emil, Věra's husband
• Jiří Sovák as Director
• Věra Tichánková as Marie Vávrová
• Otakar Brousek as Milan Vorel (Czech voice)
• Alena Kreuzmannová as Alena Burdová (Czech voice)
• Zdenka Procházková as Mrs. Kurková (Czech voice)
• Čestmír Řanda as Bažant (Czech voice)

Berlin International Film Festival

• Won, "UNICRIT Award" - Jiří Weiss

Golden Globe Award

• Nominated, "Best English-Language Foreign Film"

• Ninety Degrees in the Shade at IMDb
• Ninety Degrees in the Shade at AllMovie
• Ninety Degrees in the Shade at the TCM Movie Database
• The Digital Fix DVD review