Fifth Horseman Is Fear, The

The Masterpiece Collection

An aging Jewish doctor is forbidden to practice medicine in Prague during the Nazi occupation. He is employed in a warehouse as a clerk, cataloguing confiscated Jewish property. When a partisan is wounded, the doctor reluctantly agrees to treat him. The doctor hides him in his run-down apartment building as he sneaks through the black market underworld of Prague in search of morphine to ease the man's pain, ever fearful of informant neighbors and vigilant authorities.

Within an historical context, director Zbynek Brynych creates a thinly-disguised allegory about contemporary communist Czechoslovakia that is rich in atmosphere and dark in tone. The expressionist cinematography and stellar performances make this lost masterwork an unforgettable viewing experience.