Director Martin Frič's first independent collaboration with Vlasta Burian was a comedy in which the popular comedian portrayed a musical instrument maker who is to be imprisoned for insulting the Imperial Majesty. Anton Špelec did not receive the honours he had been desiring from the Sharpshooters' Association, got blatantly drunk and did not keep his mouth shut. Instead of himself, he decides to send his employee to prison, but that employee sends a sick vagrant behind bars instead... This farce, which brings us back to the Austro-Hungarian period, was based on a 1932 play by Emil Arthur Longen, whose other work had already inspired Burian's popular comedy Imperial and Royal Field Marshal (1930). After the success of Anton Špelec, Martin Frič became one of Burian's favourite directors for several years: together they made His Highness' Adjutant, Hero for a Night, Three Boiled Eggs and Munchhausen.
True, Anton Špelec is by trade a producer of musical instruments, but in his heart and soul he is a sharp-shooter. In a little provincial town arrangements are being made for a large parade during which the worthy sharp-shooters will be decorated with medals. Anton believes that this time the council will come to him but he is disappointed, for they are one medal short and he must wait for another year. Then in the pub he drinks so much that he insults the emperor for which he is sentenced to jail. It is necessary, however, to fulfil the order, so Anton decides to send his employee Josef Kukačka in his stead while he works secretly at home alone. But even Kukačka doesn't want to go to jail and he sends there in his place a vagabond who would like to wait out the winter in a jail cell. As luck would have it, the vagabond dies while serving the sentence. So it comes about that Anton is officially dead and in the town a solemn funeral is planned. Špelec can no longer hold out and he turns up among the grieving guests as his own brother Rudolf who has allegedly been living many years abroad. He closely resembles Anton, but he acts quite differently. His wife and relatives hold this new Špelec in higher regard. And he also becomes a sharp-shooter ...
truhlářský mistr Anton Špelec
Tereza zvaná Rézi, Antonova žena
Kačaba, Špelcův přítel
dělník u Špelce Alois
dělník u Špelce Josef Kukačka
velitel ostrostřelců Čtvrtečka
teta Josefína
známý Rudolfa Špelce z Polska
tulák
předseda senátu
obhájce
soudní votant
soudní úředník
soudní zřízenec
cellista
Kukačkova milá
zástupce velitele ostrostřelců
ostrostřelec
ostrostřelec
ostrostřelec
ostrostřelec
muž v cylindru
strážník
okradený pán
hostinský
host na pohřbu
host na pohřbu
host na pohřbu
host na pohřbu/ostrostřelec Josef Kaufman
divačka
host v hospodě
sousedka v domě
Emil Artur Longen (Už mě vezou – divadelní hra)
Jaroslav Balzar (fotograf)
Melody Boys (Music Conducted by R. A. Dvorský)
Song Composer Jára Beneš
Writer of Lyrics Jaroslav Mottl
Singer Vlasta Burian
Song Composer Jára Beneš
Writer of Lyrics Jaroslav Mottl
Singer Vlasta Burian
Anton Špelec, ostrostřelec
Anton Špelec, ostrostřelec
Anton Špelec, Sharp-Shooter
film
featuretheatrical distribution
comedy
Czechoslovakia
1932
1932
date of censorship 12/1932
date of censorship 07/1938 (konec povolení k promítání 1943)
withdrawal from distribution 05/1940
date of censorship 05/1940 (neschváleno do distribuce)
withdrawal from distribution 1 April 1991
premiere 16 December 1932 /unsuitable for youths/ (kina Adria /5 týdnů/ a Hvězda /6 týdnů/, Praha)
renewed premiere 1 August 1950 /suitable for youths/
Meissner (původní 1932), Rozdělovna filmů Československého státního filmu (obnovená 1950)
feature film
90 min
2 575 meters
35mm
1:1,19
black & white
sound
Tobis – Klang
Czech
Czech, German
without subtitles
Czech
Event: Anketa Týdeníku Televize, TV Plus a České televize – Hrdina filmového úsměvu tisíciletí (nejoblíbenější postava české filmové veselohry)
2000
Praha / Czech Republic
Vlasta Burian