In the first half of the 1960s, Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos made their socially most significant cinematic works. These included the WWII dramas Smrt si říká Engelchen (Death Is Called Engelchen) and Obchod na korze (The Shop on Main Street) as well as Obžalovaný, a psychological drama set in the period the film was made. The two directors recast the socialism-building dimension of the original novel by Lenka Hašková into a disturbing testimony on the reality of socialism – which in 1969 was irrevocably doomed to end under the censor’s lock and key. The protagonist of this story set in a courtroom is Kudrna, a hard-working honourable director of a hydroelectric power station. Under pressure from his superiors, he has made the greatest possible effort to put the new hydro plant into operation as soon as possible. His subordinates, however, have taken this as an opportunity to steal assets, resulting in one employee hanging himself. The innocent Kudrna’s trial reveals the abuse of law and how the ruling party and the justice system are interwoven... Shining in the title role of this excellently conceived film is the then not very well known Slovak actor Vlado Müller. Kudrna’s lawyer is performed by the emerging Jiří Menzel and the public prosecutor is played by an excelling Miroslav Macháček.
Three defendants are brought to the regional court: Director Josef Kudrna and his subordinates - engineer Potůček and clerk Zelenka. They are being tried for the unlawful appropriation of national property, which was discovered during an audit at the construction site of a power plant in Blahovice. The financial loss caused by the unjustified disbursements of bonuses amounts to approximately five million crowns. Zelenka and Potůček indeed grew rich personally, assigning bonuses to themselves and giving shares from the unjustly paid money to other employees. They confess to their crime. The situation with Kudrna is different. This honest and immensely industrious man, who worked his way up from being a worker to his recent position, first does not admit any guilt to himself. Shattered, he learns only in court that his deputy Ludl, who was responsible for the finances and made the unlawful appropriation possible, has hanged himself. Kudrna was pushed by the ministry to meet the final term of the power plant's construction at any cost and gave orders for bonus payments for workers to encourage them to work harder. He, however, signed some documents submitted to him by his subordinates without reading them. The construction was finished in time, without even spending the whole budget. The inspection, called for by the chairman of the Factory Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, nevertheless found the aforementioned irregularities in the bookkeeping. Zelenka and Potůček are sentenced to jail for many years. However, Kudrna, whose sentence is very low and corresponds to the period of his detention, rejects his verdict, feeling equally responsible for the whole matter.
ředitel Josef Kudrna
Kudrnova manželka
Kudrnův syn
předseda senátu
soudce z lidu Kábrt
soudce z lidu František Duchoň
okresní prokurátor
obhájce František Horáček
obhájce Hruška
obhájce Miroslav Procházka
inženýr Richard Potůček, obžalovaný
úředník Karel Zelenka, obžalovaný
svědek Rezek
svědek Kolek, odborový funkcionář
svědek Vondruška
svědek Vaňátko, předseda ZV KSČ
svědek Ing. Jan Kalista, bývalý ředitel
svědek Karel Křivánek, montér z Kladna
odborný znalec z ministerstva
vězeň-lékař Schwarcz
Dobešová, redaktorka Ekonomických rozhledů
Bureš, redaktor Práce
Šmíd, redaktor Rudého práva
spoluvězeň Meduna
staršina
vězeňský lékař-kapitán
holič ve vězení
zapisovatelka
manželka obžalovaného Zelenky
manželka obžalovaného Potůčka
manželka soudce z lidu Duchoně
zdravotník
dozorce
dozorce
dozorce
dozorce
dozorce
Voice by Čestmír Řanda
náměstek na ministerstvu
zřízenec
dědeček Kudrna
uklízečka
Zdena Pavlátová, Tomáš Škrdlant, René Mattes
Lenka Hašková (Obžalovaný – novela)
Vladimír Valenta, Ján Kadár (spolupráce na scénáři), Elmar Klos (spolupráce na scénáři)
František Straka, Václav Kozel, Václav Zavřel
Jordan Balurov
Jana Těžká (klapka), Karel Brož (vrchní osvětlovač), Jiří Stach (fotograf)
FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)
Song Composer lidová píseň
Writer of Lyrics lidová píseň
Singer Jiří Michný
Obžalovaný
Obžalovaný
The Defendant
film
featuretheatrical distribution
drama, psychological
Czechoslovakia
1964
1963
literary Screenplay approved 13 June 1963
technical Screenplay approved 15 July 1963
start of filming 18 August 1963
end of filming 23 November 1963
projection approval 18 February 1964
withdrawal from distribution 30 June 1971
withdrawal from distribution 31 December 1992
gala premiere 25 February 1964 (kino Blaník, Praha)
preview 28 August 1964 (kino Sevastopol /1 týden/, Praha)
premiere 4 September 1964 /unsuitable for youths/ (kino Lucerna /4 týdny/, Praha)
premiere 2 October 1964 /unsuitable for youths/ (celostátní)
renewed premiere 1 October 1988 /suitable for youths/
renewed premiere 20 October 2022 /suitable for all ages without limit/
Ústřední půjčovna filmů (původní 1964 a obnovená 1988), Národní filmový archiv (obnovená 2022)
Tvůrčí skupina Feix – Brož, Miloš Brož (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny), Karel Feix (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny)
feature film
93 min
2 549 meters
16mm, 35mm, DCP 2-D, BRD
1:1,37
black & white
sound
mono
Czech
Czech
without subtitles
Czech
Event: Hlasování o Cenu nejlepšímu zahraničnímu filmu uvedenému v polské distribuci v roce 1965 – Syrena 1965
1966
Varšava / Poland
Event: Umělecká soutěž k 20. výročí osvobození Československa
1965
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Ján Kadár
Event: Anketa československých filmových distributorů za rok 1964
1965
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Event: Ceny Trilobit 1964
1965
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Vlado Müller
Event: Umělecká soutěž k 20. výročí osvobození Československa
1965
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Elmar Klos
Festival: 14. mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary
1964
Karlovy Vary / Czechoslovakia
Event: Ceny Trilobit 1963
1964
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Elmar Klos
Festival: 15. filmový festival pracujících
1964
31 měst / Czechoslovakia
Event: Ceny Trilobit 1963
1964
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Ján Kadár
Festival: 15. filmový festival pracujících
1964
31 měst / Czechoslovakia
Event: Ceny Trilobit 1963
1964
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Vladimír Valenta