Dissolute Abel Beer, with the help of his debt collector friends - usurers, swindles a Prague Doctor Jakub Hlohovský out of a quiet house in Malá Strana. Jakub, familiar with the secrets and effects of various medicines, uses them to make himself look dead. He leaves his adopted daughter Roza with his neighbour Mrs. Grundová and goes abroad. There, he lives under the pseudonym of Dr. Sirius and soon achieves fame with his medical arts. He also saves the life of Jiljí Dubín who had been devastated by the death of his lover Cesarina. Dubín is revived when he meets Hlohovský's daughter Roza who has matured into a beautiful young woman. However, Abel Beer is also in love with Roza, and has fallen further into trouble in the hands of the debt collectors. He sees a way out with a double murder. He first kills one of his relatives and then one of the most notorious usurers. However, it is the appearance of the allegedly dead Jakub Hlohoský in the house which causes him to go mad and take a knife to his own throat. Hlohovský gives his daughter Roza away to Dubín and is able to give them the quiet Malá Strana house as a wedding gift. (According to an article appearing in the press at the time the film was made.)
The film materials are believed lost. Working shots are included in the film How films were made in our country (put together by Bohumil Veselý, 1954).
Jakub Hlohovský/dr. Sirius/Petrus Quidan
lichvář Abel Beer
Tobiáš
lichvář Saul Kranz
doňa Therezita, Beerova milenka
Cesarina d'Adorani alias Roza Hlohovská
Roza jako dítě
notář JUDr. Rulík
vdova Grundová
Josefinka, dcera vdovy Grundové
dr. Jiljí Dubín
rádce
přízrak
Karel Dewetter (Mrtví žijí – román)
Mrtví žijí
Mrtví žijí
The Dead are Living
Tajemný pražský doktor
The Mysterious Doctor of Prague
film
featuretheatrical distribution
lost film
drama
Czechoslovakia
1922
1922
date of censorship 6 June 1922
premiere 28 July 1922 /unsuitable for youths/ (kino Lucerna, Praha)
feature film
81 min
2 310 meters
35mm
1:1,33
black & white
silent
Czech
without dialogue
without subtitles
Czech
Czech