Tonka of the Gallows
Country
CzechoslovakiaCopyright
1930Production year
1929—1930Premiere
27 February 1930Runtime
82 minDirector
Karel AntonCategory
filmGenre
dramaTypology
featuretheatrical distributionlongFilm state
lost filmOriginal title
Tonka ŠibeniceCzech title
Tonka ŠibeniceEnglish title
Tonka of the GallowsSynopsis
Country girl Tonka, after arriving in Prague, becomes a prostitute in a brothel. But she misses home. When she gets time off she goes back to see her mother. At home she meets her former boyfriend Jan again. He still loves her and wants to marry her. Tonka is content with him but is tormented by memories of her whorehouse past. She does not want to make Jan - who does not suspect she is a harlot - unhappy and so she returns to the bordello in Prague. The police arrive in search of a prostitute who is willing to spend the night with a condemned murderer who is to be executed the following morning. Tonka feels sorry for the doomed man and agrees to sleep with him. But when she goes back to the brothel afterwards, everybody spurns her contemptuously. She is thrown out and starts to walk the streets, sinking ever lower into depravity. One day Tonka sees Jan who has come to Prague to look for her. In her confusion Tonka gets involved in a vicious street fight and is shoved into the path of a hackney carriage. Mortally injured, she dies in Jan's arms.
Note
The film was made as a silent movie. A sound track was added in France after a fire at Kavalírka in the year 1929. Versions of the film were also made in German (Der Galgentoni) and French (Tonischka). In the Czech version, a prologue was included at the beginning of the film, where Karel Hašler, accompanied by Erno Košťála on the piano, sang his two songs Hradčany krásné and Když v Praze padá sníh. In the next part of the prologue, the actor Theodor Pištěk talked about the setting in which the action of the film takes place. Only a French version is stored at the National Film Archive Prague, in the Czech version 15,0 metres of the prologue only is preserved in which Karel Hašler sings the song Hradčany krásné.
Photos
Cast
Ita Rina
prostitutka Antonie Havlová zvaná Tonka Šibenice
Vera Baranovskaja
Tončina matka
Josef Rovenský
odsouzený vrah Ferdinand Prokůpek
Jindřich Plachta
drožkář
Antonie Nedošinská
majitelka nevěstince
Emilie Nitschová
prodavačka kaštanů
Rudolf Štěpán
mistr popravčí
Felix Kühne
hausírník
Theodor Pištěk
opilec/on sám v prologu
Jan Sviták
pasák
Karel Jelínek
návštěvník v nevěstinci
Eliška Jílková
služka u majitelky nevěstince
Josef Kytka
první tajný
V. Mecera
druhý tajný
Václav Rabský
vězeňský dozorce
Jindra Hermanová
nevěstka
Ada Velický
host v hospodě
Jan Marek
host v hospodě
Karel Hašler
on sám v prologu, zpěvák
Erno Košťál
on sám v prologu, klavírista
Crew and creators
Director
Based on
Egon Erwin Kisch (Nanebevstoupení Tonky Šibenice – povídka)
Screenplay
Director of Photography
Production Designer
Film Editor
Sound Designer
Cooperation
Jaroslav Krampera (vrchní osvětlovač), Willy Ströminger (fotograf)
Music
Music Composed by
Selected Music
Bedřich Smetana (Má vlast /Vltava/), Antonín Dvořák (Slovanské tance), Richard Wagner (fanfáry)
Music Performed by
francouzští hudebníci z pařížských divadel a symfonických orchestrů (Music Conducted by Erno Košťál)
Songs
Mámino štěstí
Song Composer Erno Košťál
Writer of Lyrics Erno Košťál
Singer Ita Rina [dab]Marie Vojtková
Hradčany krásné
Song Composer Karel Hašler
Writer of Lyrics Karel Hašler
Singer Karel Hašler
Když v Praze padá první sníh
Song Composer Karel Hašler
Writer of Lyrics Karel Hašler
Singer Karel Hašler
Písička o štěstí
Song Composer Karel Hašler
Tonka-polka
Song Composer Erno Košťál
Pryč a pryč je všecko
Už mou milou do kostela vedou
Išla Marína od Hodonína
Lásko, bože, lásko
Prijdi Jano premileny
Tancuj, tancuj, vykrúcaj
Nešťastný šafářův dvoreček
Zelení hájové
Šup sem, šup tam
Až ráno, až ráno
Production info
Original Title
Tonka Šibenice
Czech Title
Tonka Šibenice
English Title
Tonka of the Gallows
Category
film
Typology
featuretheatrical distribution
Film state
lost film
Genre
drama
Origin country
Czechoslovakia
Copyright
1930
Production Year
1929—1930
Production specifications
date of censorship 01/1930
date of censorship 12/1935 (konec povolení k promítání 1940)
withdrawal from distribution 1 June 1940
Premiere
premiere 27 February 1930 /unsuitable for youths/ (kino Alfa /6 týdnů/, Praha)
Production
Copyright Holders
Distribution
Technical info
Duration typology
feature film
Duration in minutes
82 min
Original length in metres
2 324 meters
Distribution carrier
35mm
Aspect ratio
1:1,19
Colour
black & white
Sound
sound
Sound system/format
RCA Photophone
Versions
Czech
Dialogue languages
Czech
Subtitles languages
without subtitles
Intertitles languages
Czech
Opening/End credits languages
Czech
