Firemens Ball was Czechoslovakian director Milos Formans final film in his home country; he was scouting locations in Paris when the Russians moved their tanks into Prague in 1968 causing Forman to decide to remain an expatriate. Because of the supercharged political climate of the era, critics read all sorts of allegory and hidden meanings into the Firemens Ball. Other critics simply accepted the film as the slapsticky tale of a disastrous small-town celebration in honor of a retiring fire chief, and laughed accordingly. Best to judge for oneself: you can catch Firemens Ball under its original English title, or under its alternate cognomen Like a House on Fire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide