The stories of Bohumil Hrabal were a touchstone for director Jiří Menzel. By the time he turned to Skřivánci na niti (Skylarks on the String, 1969) he had already adapted a number of short stories from the writer’s 1965 collection Inzerát na dům, ve kterém už nechci bydlet (An Advertisement for the House I No Longer Wish to Live in). After Smrt pana Baltazara (The Death of Mr Balthazar, 1965) – which served as a short film segment of the anthology feature Perličky na dně (Pearls of the Deep, 1965), a motion picture sometimes described as a manifesto of sorts for the 1960s Czechoslovak New Wave generation of directors – Menzel turned to the wartime tragicomedy Ostře sledované vlaky (Closely Watched Trains, 1966). Its success was underscored by a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Skylarks on the String was another winning collaboration between the highly regarded filmmaker and the much admired writer. The film is set in Kladno steelworks, a place where political offenders against the communist regime were sent for “temporary employment”. These might include insubordinate intellectuals, religious affiliates or small traders. The temporary workers in the film include a former state prosecutor (Leoš Suchařípa), a young Adventist named Pavel (Václav Neckář), his love and fellow inmate Jitka (Jitka Zelenohorská) and the barber Kudla (Ferdinand Krůta). All are watched over by the young guard Anděl (Jaroslav Satoranský) who has also been charged with keeping an eye on the “hill girls” – women who try to cross over the country’s mountainous western borders. Although the main protagonists are all in the same boat, friendship and mutual loyalty have their limitations when there is no chance of justice and no way to appeal for help. A fanatical leader of a communist youth organisation points out the “enemies of the regime” to visiting Pioneers (the socialists’ favoured term for “scouts) as if they are contagious exotic animals. Even though things can always get worse, life never ceases to be both strange and beautiful… Rather than being greeted by popular acclaim, plaudits from critics and awards from international film festivals, the film instead ended up in the infamous “censor’s vault”. There was little appetite for storylines exploring the theme of 1950s’ political persecution in a Czechoslovak film industry that was busy adapting itself to the demands of post-1968 “normalisation”. A scene featuring senile government minister Zdeněk Nejedlý (Vladimír Šmeral) was cut but it was still not enough to placate the censor. The film was only premiered after November 1989 and although it earned its creator a Golden Bear at the 1990 Berlin International Film Festival it was a belated satisfaction. After Skylarks on the String, Menzel was not permitted to make another film for five years. His next offering was a essentially a socialist propaganda piece about the builders of a better future, Kdo hledá zlaté dno (Who Looks for Gold, 1974).
1950. Two groups of people work in the scrap-yard of the Kladno steelworks. They are female prisoners guarded by the supervisor Anděl and "volunteers", former small tradesmen, suspect intellectuals and members of the church. The women and girls, who have been imprisoned for trying to flee over the border, are working hard unloading and sorting iron scrap. The men are doing the same. They are the young Seventh Day Adventist Pavel, a Professor of Philosophy, the Barber Kudla, the Carpenter Drobeček and a former Public Prosecutor. During the shooting of an optimistic shot for a film journal the volunteer Milkman [Mlíkař] can no longer control himself and demands that the increased work norm be relaxed. Anděl is going to marry the beautiful gypsy Terezka, but he still has a long way to go winning the confidence of his shy bride. The police comes for Milkman. Tender relationships develop between the two groups of people, with Pavel falling in love with the prisoner Jitka. A fanatical female Czechoslovak Youth Movement leader shows children in the pioneer corps the enemies of the regime. The Professor asks where Milkman has been taken and is immediately arrested. Jitka and Pavel have their wedding. At the Local National Committee Jitka is represented by an old aunt, and is herself informed of her change of status by the prison director. A senile state official arrives at the workplace. Pavel asks him about the fate of Milkman and the Professor. Before he has been able to enjoy even a few moments of solitude with Jitka, Pavel is also arrested. Later, the released Jitka works in the canteen, waiting two years for her new husband to return.
The film was originally shot in co-production with the West German company Taurus Film Munich. The co-production partner mainly procured the film material. The film was handed over to the Central Film Distributors on the 30th of November 1969, and because it was not approved for distribution, the première did not take place until 1990.
odborový důvěrník
brigádník Pavel Hvězdář, adventista a bývalý kuchař
vězeňkyně-kopečkářka Jitka Hlaváčová, Pavlova nevěsta
brigádník zvaný Doktor, bývalý profesor filozofie a knihovník
brigádník Václav zvaný Mlíkař, bývalý mlékař
brigádník Kudla, bývalý holič
brigádník Drobeček, bývalý truhlář
brigádník, bývalý prokurátor
brigádník, bývalý saxofonista
vězeňkyně-kopečkářka Lenka
vězeňkyně-kopečkářka
strážný vězeňkyň Anděl
Hvězdářová, Pavlova matka
závodní
starší příslušník SNB
velitel trestnice
vězeňkyně-kopečkářka Elza
vězeňkyně-kopečkářka
senilní hodnostář Zdeněk Nejedlý
Drobečkova manželka
umývačka nádobí v závodní kuchyni
cikánka Terezka, Andělova novomanželka
svazačka, vedoucí pionýrů
Thimingová, Pavlova teta
Kudlova manželka
filmový režisér
filmový kameraman
delegát ÚRO
vězeňkyně-kopečkářka
vězeňkyně-kopečkářka
vězeňkyně-kopečkářka
trestanec ve výtahu dolu
funkcionář
funkcionář
brigádník
brigádník
brigádník
brigádník
řidič černého auta/vedoucí postřikovací party
blondýna
žena doprovázející Zdeňka Nejedlého
oddávající úředník
úřednice na svatbě
koupající se brigádník
příslušník SNB v civilu
tajný
cikánský hudebník na svatbě
cikánský hudebník na svatbě
cikánský hudebník na svatbě
cikánský hudebník na svatbě
cikánský hudebník na svatbě
hudebník
strážný
strážný
strážná
strážná
strážná
jásající dívka v davu
svlečená vězeňkyně
svlečená vězeňkyně
svlečená vězeňkyně
svlečená vězeňkyně
svlečená vězeňkyně
svlečená vězeňkyně
hlas ze závodního rozhlasu
Josef Sandr
Bohumil Hrabal (Inzerát na dům, ve kterém už nechci bydlet – povídky ze sbírky)
Vladimír Mácha, Rudolf Beneš, Václav Kozel
Taťána Bargárová
Josef Janoušek (fotograf)
FISYO (Music Conducted by Štěpán Koníček)
Song Composer Václav Dobiáš
Song Composer Karel Vacek
Song Composer Jiří Šust
Writer of Lyrics Soňa Nová
Singer dětský sbor
Song Composer Johann Strauss ml.
Writer of Lyrics K. M. Walló
Singer František Řehák
Song Composer S. Děškin
Writer of Lyrics Josef Urban
Singer dětský sbor
Singer Tereza Bariová
Skřivánci na niti
Skřivánci na niti
Larks on a String
Skylarks on the String
Skřivánek na nitích / Skřivánci na nitích
film
featuretheatrical distribution
comedy, sad comedy
Czechoslovakia
1969
1969
literary Screenplay approved 17 December 1968
start of filming 14 April 1969
end of filming 12 August 1969
projection approval 30 October 1969 (neschváleno do distribuce)
the first film copy approved 31 October 1969
withdrawal from distribution 31 July 1993
gala premiere 4 January 1990 (kino Blaník, Praha)
premiere 1 February 1990 /unsuitable for youths/
renewed premiere 24 February 2022 /suitable for all ages without limit/
Ústřední půjčovna filmů (původní 1990), Národní filmový archiv (obnovená 2022)
Tvůrčí skupina Juráček – Kučera, Pavel Juráček (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny), Jaroslav Kučera (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny)
feature film
94 min
2 531 meters
16mm, 35mm, DCP 2-D, BRD
1:1,66
colour
sound
mono
Czech
Czech, Romany
without subtitles
Czech
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1998
Praha / Czech Republic
Festival: 40. mezinárodní filmový festival Berlín
1990
Západní Berlín / Federal Republic of Germany
Exhibition: Dny českého a slovenského filmu Bratislava
1990
Bratislava / Czechoslovakia
Jaromír Šofr
Festival: 40. mezinárodní filmový festival Berlín
1990
Západní Berlín / Federal Republic of Germany
Exhibition: Dny českého a slovenského filmu Bratislava
1990
Bratislava / Czechoslovakia
Event: Cena československé filmové kritiky za nejlepší český a slovenský film roku 1989
1990
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Festival: 4. festival českých a slovenských filmů FINÁLE Plzeň
1990
Plzeň / Czechoslovakia