A Ridiculous Gentleman

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1969

Production year

1968—1969

Premiere

28 November 1969

Runtime

89 min

Category

film

Genre

drama, poetic

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Směšný pán

Czech title

Směšný pán

English title

A Ridiculous Gentleman

Working title

Muž na ulici

Summary

In 1969, director Karel Kachyňa and screenwriter Jan Procházka continued their collaboration via this hospital drama, telling the story of an ageing professor looking back over his life after major surgery. Jindřich Šimek has little reason for nostalgia: in the 1950s, he was jailed for many years as a supposed enemy of the communist regime. He lost his career and his family disowned him. The patient focuses on an unknown girl appearing on the roof of a building visible through a hospital window. He becomes fixated on the figure, and begins to plan a bright future with her… This intimate, somewhat poetic psychological drama offered a great acting opportunity for Vladimír Šmeral. Směšný pán (A Ridiculous Gentleman, 1969) is unusual for its direct exploration of Stalinist repression. It was to be was the penultimate “unrestricted” work of Procházka and Kachyňa. After Ucho (The Ear, 1970), the skilled duo would never again be offered the opportunity to work together.

Synopsis

Sixty-year old Professor Šimek is undergoing a serious heart operation. The surgeon Preclík is satisfied with the result, and after the successful operation he and his patient become famous. Šimek is, however, indifferent to fame, since the years have robbed him of energy and taste for life. In the 1950s, during the campaign against supposed enemies of the communist regime, he was unjustly condemned to many years of imprisonment. His wife, daughter and friends have abandoned him, and his academic career was ruined. From the window of his hospital room it is only sick children that catch his melancholy eye, and a charming girl who releases carrier pigeons from a basket on the roof of the house opposite. One day she fails to appear on the roof. The professor is disturbed, sure that something must have happened to the girl. He goes out into the street in his hospital gown, even though he is well aware that too much strain could kill him. After a difficult search he finds the house and the girl's apartment, which is locked. Šimek gets the neighbours to open it. His foreboding has not been wrong, since the unknown girls has tried to commit suicide. She is still alive and the doctors will clearly be able to save her, but but the situation is too much for Šimek's heart and the old man dies. Doctor Preclík understands the professor's actions. The girl had reminded Šimek of the daughter who had repudiated him during his trial, and had poisoned herself when she later discovered her father's innocence.

Cast

Vladimír Šmeral

profesor Jindřich Šimek

Jiří Adamíra

MUDr. Preclík

Josef Patočka

inženýr Harmach

Danuše Klichová

dívka na střeše

Evelyna Steimarová

zdravotní sestra Nanynka

Carmen Mayerová

zdravotní sestra Zezulová

Dáša Neblechová

nemocniční kuchařka

Jaroslava Vysloužilová

nemocniční kuchařka

Zuzana Tomková

děvčátko Alenka

Věra Beztahovská

děvčátko v nemocnici

Ilona Petržílková

děvčátko v nemocnici

Vladimír Stoklasa

taxikář

Vladislav Coufal

vědec

MUDr. Zdeněk Náprstek

kardiolog

Ladislav Křiváček

velitel trestnice

Alena Karešová

zdravotní sestra Prokešová

Josef Roubíček

syn Prokešové

Václav Kotva

průvodčí v tramvaji

Antonín Kryl

asistent

Vladimír Linka

muž v brýlích

MUDr. M. Haco

rentgenolog

Miroslav Svoboda

vězeň v brýlích

Josef Vošalík

stařeček Rudolf

Josefa Pechlátová

žena v domě

Renata Bauerová

holčička Věra

Jaroslava Bauerová

Věřina matka

Josef Rak

dozorce

J. Jurenko

asfaltér

MUDr. Štětka

docent

Dubbing

Helena Růžičková

hlas ženy na ulici/hlas sousedky

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Milada Mikešová

Assistant Director

Karel Brchel

Screenstory

Jan Procházka

Shooting Script

Karel Kachyňa

Director of Photography

Josef Pávek

Second Unit Photography

Karel Hejsek

Production Designer

Oldřich Okáč

Set Designer

Čestmír Diviš, Vladimír Ježek, Ladislav Winkelhöfer

Costume Designer

Irena Greifová

Film Editor

Miroslav Hájek

Assistant Film Editor

Vilemína Binterová

Sound Designer

Jiří Lenoch

Production Manager

Karel Vejřík

Unit Production Manager

Rudolf Mos, Ladislav Dražan

Unit Production Manager

Antonín Šimral

Consultant

MUDr. Zdeněk Náprstek

Cooperation

Josef Vítek (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Zdeněk Liška

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)

Production info

Original Title

Směšný pán

Czech Title

Směšný pán

English Title

A Ridiculous Gentleman

Working Title

Muž na ulici

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

drama, poetic

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1969

Production Year

1968—1969

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 5 July 1968
technical Screenplay approved 2 October 1968
start of filming 16 October 1968
end of filming 27 February 1969
the first film copy approved 27 May 1969
projection approval 9 June 1969
withdrawal from distribution 6 April 1973
withdrawal from distribution 31 July 1993

Premiere

premiere 28 November 1969 /suitable for youths/ (celostátní)
premiere 11 December 1969 /suitable for youths/ (kino Kotva /2 týdny/, Praha)
renewed premiere 1 March 1991 /suitable for youths/

Distribution

Ústřední půjčovna filmů (původní 1969 a obnovená 1991 /pod názvem Lucernafilm/)

Creative Group

Tvůrčí skupina Švabík – Procházka, Jan Procházka (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny), Erich Švabík (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

89 min

Original length in metres

2 520 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech