Death in the Saddle

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1958

Production year

1958

Premiere

27 March 1959

Runtime

81 min

Category

film

Genre

adventure

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Smrt v sedle

Czech title

Smrt v sedle

English title

Death in the Saddle

Synopsis

On the state stud-farm, Tomáš is preparing to become a jockey together with other boys. He loves to read cowboy stories and Western pulp magazines and his passion makes him a laughing-stock of his friends and pretty Věra, couch Mikota's daughter. Tomáš looks for refuge with ageing jockey Kosina and listens in admiration to his tales of old jockey glory. He doesn't suspect that Kosina had to leave the racecourse because of fraud and that he is still looking for ways to get easy money. The boys and Věra decide to heal Tomáš of his ravings about the Wild West. Dressed up as cowboys and with fake guns, they attack Tomáš in a gorge. Tomáš manages to escape. Running away, he discovers the lifeless body of accountant Šulc who was bringing in the wages. Two anonymous men used the fuss around the "attack" to steal the bag of money from the accountant and to kill him. The sad event opens Tomáš's eyes. He begins to be suspicious of Kosina and starts following him. From a hide-out he witnesses a quarrel between Kosina and his accomplice about the booty. The accomplice finally shoots Kosina dead. Riding on his horse, Tomáš follows the murderer, waiter Vaníček, takes the bag from him and helps with his arrest.

Note

The film was shot on both a wide-screen gauge (1:2.35) and a standard gauge (1:1.37) film format.

Cast

Rudolf Jelínek

jezdec Tomáš Bouček

Eduard Dubský

bývalý žokej Fritz Kosina

Radovan Lukavský

ředitel hřebčína MVDr. Křepelka

Jiří Sovák

trenér Alois Mikota

Jana Kasanová

Věra, Mikotova dcera

Miloš Vavruška

číšník Vaníček

Josef Beyvl

účetní Jan Šulc

Martin Růžek

nadporučík SNB Hejzlar

Miloš Nesvadba

holič Ríša

Ludvík Veselý

Pilc, bývalý bookmaker

Jan Kaiser

Pepík Král

Harald Štipka

Bohuš

Milan Kulič

Honza

Ema Skálová

Mikotová

Jan Skopeček

příslušník SNB Hála

Jindřich Narenta

příslušník SNB

Crew and creators

Assistant Director

Tomáš Kulík, Eva Mičulková

Shooting Script

Jindřich Polák

Director of Photography

Rudolf Milič

Camera Operator

Vladimír Řezníček, Jaroslav Kupšík

Production Designer

Oldřich Bosák

Assistent Production Designer

Bohumil Nový

Costume Designer

Lída Novotná

Assistant Film Editor

Růžena Čermáková

Sound Designer

Jiří Pavlík

Production Manager

Gustav Rohan

Unit Production Manager

Zdeňka Černá

Unit Production Manager

Pavel Krůta

Consultant

František Michálek (jezdectví), František Zábrodský

Cooperation

Karel Brož (vrchní osvětlovač), Jiří Širc (fotograf), Výzkumná stanice pro chov koní Slatiňany, Správa hřebčína na Muráni

Music

Music Composed by

Evžen Illín

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)

Songs

Seno a stáj

Song Composer Evžen Illín
Writer of Lyrics Zdeněk Borovec
Singer smíšený sbor

Production info

Original Title

Smrt v sedle

Czech Title

Smrt v sedle

English Title

Death in the Saddle

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

adventure

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1958

Production Year

1958

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 12 June 1957
technical Screenplay approved 20 February 1958
start of filming 28 March 1958
end of filming 4 October 1958
projection approval 17 February 1959
withdrawal from distribution 31 December 1992

Premiere

premiere 27 March 1959 /suitable for youths/ (kina Světozor /9 týdnů/, Veletrhy /2 týdny od 10. 4./, Svornost /1 týden od 24. 4./ a Květen /2 týdny od 1. 5./, Praha)

Copyright Holders

Národní filmový archiv

Studio

Hostivař

Creative Group

Tvůrčí skupina Šebor – Bor, Vladimír Bor (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny), Jiří Šebor (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

81 min

Original length in metres

2 300 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37, 1:2,35

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono, stereo

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech