Novelist Josef Nesvadba made his mark in Czech film history as the author of terrific source material and as a screenwriter. With the exception of Tajemství zlatého Buddhy (The Secret of the Gold Buddha, 1973), Nesvadba attended to sci-fi themes. He would write screenplays based on his own literary output, and this is what he did for the 1969 sci-fi comedy Zabil jsem Einsteina, pánové..., directed by the experienced Oldřích Lipský. On this occasion, however, the subject matter better suited co-screenwriter Miloš Macourek, who took part in the shooting of several stories based on mind-spinning turns of events with Václav Vorlíček (“Pane, vy jste vdova!” [You Are a Widow, Sir, 1970], Což takhle dát si špenát [How About a Plate of Spinach?, 1977]) and Jindřich Polák (Zítra vstanu a opařím se čajem [I’ll Get Up and Scald Myself with Tea Tomorrow, 1977]). When it comes to Lipský’s involvement in directing Zabil jsem Einsteina, pánové… it’s clear that sci-fi was not his usual ground as he was essentially a writer-director who dramatised comic material (Muž z prvního století [The Man from the First Century, 1961], Srdečný pozdrav ze zeměkoule [Cordially from Earth, 1982]). This plot of this film, which cinema audiences got to see at the start of the 1970s, turns on a well-known hypothesis concerning time travel. If somebody could go back in time and assassinate Albert Einstein, they would prevent the application of outcomes of the theoretical physicist’s work – outcomes which, the film story relates, were essential in the construction of the destructive “G-bomb” at the dawn of the third millennium. One effect of a G-bomb detonation that has taken place is that women have lost the capability to reproduce and have started to grow beards. A scientific expedition from the future, led by Professor Moore (Jiří Sovák), travels to the year 1911. But expedition members Gwen Williams (Jana Brejchová), a historian, and Frank Pech, a mathematician, do not want to kill: they only want to help facilitate a fatal accident. According to attested historical documents on which the mission is based, Einstein (Petr Čepek) almost died in the house of the banker Wertheim when a heavy chandelier plunged from the ceiling. If they could just move him to the right spot, then it would be mission accomplished. But the thoroughly planned mission fails – and a second expedition causes scientific consequences that end up leaving Moore as the only “real man” on Earth… For Lipský, this motion picture followed his experimental Happy End (1967). It is a crazy, over-complicated comedy, but, in the end, it is saved by a great cast. As an aside, it is noteworthy that the extinction of mankind was connected to secret US arms industry activities.
It is the beginning of the third millennium and the situation of the human race is critical. Secret experiments with the G bomb has caused women to grow beards and completely lose their ability to bear children. The only hope is an expedition which Professor Moore wants to make in his time machine, planning to go to Prague of 1911 and kill Professor Einstein, whose calculations eventually resulted in the production of the G bomb. Moore is accompanied by mathematician Frank Pech and pretty historian Gwen Williams. Their plan is based on historical records, according to which Einstein almost died in the house of the banker Wertheim, standing under a heavy chandelier which fell on the exact spot he had stood on just a while ago. The task of the group of three is only to help the tragedy a little - to thwart the scientist's rescue. The time machine lands in Prague but, gradually, everything goes wrong. Frank makes friends with an ingenious little arithmetician and great rascal named František, his future father. But the boy dies instead of Einstein and Frank - who thus could not have been born - disappears in an instant. The expedition has failed. Moore asks for a new attempt. This time, Gwen decides to use her women's charms against Einstein, convincing him to abandon physics and take up a career playing the violin. But when the expedition returns to the future, everything has changed. Moore finds out to his horror that he had remained the only one real man. Chemistry, which came to rule the world in the new history instead of physics, caused a "female" mutation to men, preventing them from having any descendants. Moore can do naught else but engender new generations and invent the "salutary" nuclear bomb.
profesor David Moore
doktorka historie Gwen Williamsová/Jane Einsteinová, dcera Gwen
profesor Frank Pech
Betsy, Frankova žena
profesor Albert Einstein
profesor Robert Grant
tajemník OSN Giacometti
Smith, člen Grantovy bandy
sekretář OSN Snyder
bankéř Guido Wertheim
Vilma, Wertheimova žena
rektor Rath
inspektor policie
zástupce velitele policie
ředitel fyzikálního ústavu
vynálezce profesor Hughes
rada Vágner
chlípný profesor Wurm
režisér v Národním divadle
klapka
inspicient
fiakrista
asistent
režisér
kuchařka
Laurinová
mluvčí zmutovaných mužů
skriptka
vrchní Franc
asistent
herečka Swansonová
jídlonoš
maskérka
člen Grantovy bandy
malý František, Frankův otec jako dítě
televizní hlasatel
pobočník
dirigent v Národním divadle
planetář
komorná Emilka
lékárník Lier
dáma s lorňonem
policista
delegát-muž s ňadry
delegát-muž s ňadry
delegát-muž s ňadry
manželka
manželka
manželka
manželka
manželka
posluchačka
posluchačka
policista
policista
policista
policista
vrchní
studentka Geislerová
kameraman
kameraman
kameraman
muž-barmanka
dáma ve společnosti
mechanik
generál
delegát
delegát
vrátný v Národním divadle
pilot
zvukař
konferenciérka
asistent
laborantka
nosič
pomocník nosiče
asistent kamery
šlechetný pán
asistent
pilot
host
host
host
host
host
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
posluchačka
asistentka
Clark
pianista
sbor v opeře
hlas počítače
hlas ženské podoby Franka Pecha
Stanislava Hutková
Ivan Ernyei, Oldřich Halaza, Jiří Rulík
Věra Winkelhöferová, Josef Mojžíš
Jaroslav Vondráček
Věra Rathová (klapka), Jaromír Komárek (fotograf)
Bedřich Smetana (Prodaná nevěsta /sbor Proč bychom se netěšili/ – opera), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Sonáta e moll)
FISYO (Music Conducted by Štěpán Koníček), Taneční orchestr Václava Hybše (Music Conducted by Václav Hybš)
Zabil jsem Einsteina, pánové...
Zabil jsem Einsteina, pánové...
I Killed Einstein, Gentlemen!
film
featuretheatrical distribution
comedy, sci-fi
Czechoslovakia
1969
1969
literary Screenplay approved 10 April 1968
technical Screenplay approved 17 March 1969
start of filming 21 April 1969
end of filming 17 July 1969
the first film copy approved 28 November 1969
projection approval 11 December 1969
withdrawal from distribution 31 December 1975
premiere 27 February 1970 /unsuitable for youths/ (celostátní)
premiere 5 March 1970 /unsuitable for youths/ (kina 64 U Hradeb /2 týdny/, Světozor /4 týdny od 2. 4./ a Metro /2 týdny od 4. 6./, Praha)
Tvůrčí skupina Novotný – Kubala, Bedřich Kubala (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny), Ladislav Novotný (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny)
feature film
95 min
2 694 meters
16mm, 35mm
1:1,66, 1:2,35
colour
sound
mono
Czech
Czech
without subtitles
Czech