The Picnic

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1967

Production year

1966—1967

Premiere

1 March 1968

Runtime

68 min

Category

film

Genre

drama, psychological

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Piknik

Czech title

Piknik

English title

The Picnic

Summary

A single film is found against the name of dramatist, writer and theatre director Ladislav Smoček in the archives. That credit stems from Smoček’s conversion of his stage drama Piknik (The Picnic, 1965) for the silver screen. In making the film in 1967, he cooperated with seasoned film director Vladimír Sís. The low-budget rarity takes place on a Pacific island in 1945. In the middle of an impenetrable jungle five US Marines are searching for their Japanese adversaries. But a tension envelopes the soldiers. It is fuelled by the fear of the invisible enemy. A deepening paranoia causes the men to start mistrusting one another, following the disappearance of a sergeant… The motion picture, initially shot on a film set established on Žitný island in Slovakia, and at later stages in real jungle in Cambodia, boasts a star-studded cast (Pavel Landovský, Miroslav Macháček, Jiří Hálek, Josef Somr, Milan Sandhaus).

Synopsis

A tropical island in the Pacific, the year is 1945. A detachment of five American soldiers slog their way through a jungle overgrown with bamboo and liana vines. They are heading for the island's interior, in search of the enemy, the Japanese soldiers. As the evening draws near, they halt at a clearing surrounded by thick vegetation. The place could be a trap. As they search the surroundings they find a path. Perhaps it's the animals that made it, but it may have been the enemy. The soldiers are tired and don't want to carry on scouting, and the Sergeant Grackmiller sets off by himself. The rest of the men fall asleep, but they soon wake up and begin to talk. Their voices are apprehensive and alarmed by the unusual noise coming from the jungle. The ironical Smile disappears in the jungle to learn what is causing the racket. At first there is a sound of his steps moving through the jungle and then there is a strange sound, as if someone were dragging something along the ground. When Smile returns, his face pale, the suspicious Burda and Tall go into the bushes to investigate but find nothing there. Time passes and the sergeant does not return. In the distance, we see the Japanese squad noiselessly moving through the jungle. Rozden and Smile get drunk and begin to shout loudly, to sing and to quarrel. Tall suggests that Smile may have killed the sergeant. The others are tainted with his suspicion. They hurl themselves on Smile and nearly beat him to death. In the morning, the soldiers are heading back without the sergeant when the Japanese attack them. In a little while, the shooting ceases and dead silence falls over the jungle.

Cast

Jiří Hálek

vojín Slim Rozden

Milan Sandhaus

četař Grackmiller

Pavel Landovský

kaprál Robert Burda

Josef Somr

vojín Bill Tall

Miroslav Macháček

vojín Edy Smile

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Milan Kadlec, Bohumil Kouba, Milan Kadlec

Assistant Director

Jiří Růžička st.

Continuity

Jana Novotná

Based on

Ladislav Smoček (Piknik – divadelní hra)

Shooting Script

Vladimír Sís

Director of Photography

Stanislav Milota

Second Unit Photography

Bohumil Rath

Production Designer

Karel Lier

Assistent Production Designer

Libuše Jahodová

Art Director

Jiří Kovařík

Set Designer

Ladislav Winkelhöfer (vedoucí výpravy), Čestmír Diviš, Vladimír Ježek

Costume Designer

Jiří Kovařík

Film Editor

Miroslav Hájek

Sound Designer

Jiří Pavlík

Production Manager

Zdeněk Oves

Unit Production Manager

Richard Němec, Jaroslav Vágner

Unit Production Manager

Ctibor Jeřábek

Cooperation

Emanuela Peterová (klapka), Zdeněk Dukát (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Jan Klusák

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by Štěpán Koníček)

Songs

Production info

Original Title

Piknik

Czech Title

Piknik

English Title

The Picnic

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

drama, psychological

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1967

Production Year

1966—1967

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 15 April 1966
technical Screenplay approved 11 July 1966
start of filming 20 July 1966
end of filming 11 July 1967
projection approval 22 November 1967
withdrawal from distribution 31 August 1974

Premiere

premiere 1 March 1968 /unsuitable for youths/ (kino Pasáž /3 týdny/, Praha)
premiere 1 March 1968 /unsuitable for youths/ (celostátní)

Creative Group

Tvůrčí skupina Šmída – Fikar, Ladislav Fikar (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny), Bohumil Šmída (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

68 min

Original length in metres

1 937 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

black & white

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech