Medieval witch trials provided the story for a 1963 book by Václav Kaplický that Otakar Vávra and Ester Krumbachová used as the basis for the screenplay of the outstanding historical drama Kladivo na čarodějnice (The Witch Hunt) (1969). The renowned director and multi-talented costume designer also took inspiration from the court records of witch trials held between 1678 and 1695. Both book and film borrowed the title from Malleus maleficium (1486), a medieval manual for fighting witchcraft. While the plot centres on the fate of actual people convicted in witch trials it also consciously reflects the 1950s show trials of Milada Horáková and Rudolf Slánský, details of which started to emerge in the 1960s. The narrative’s dark protagonist is Jindřich František Boblig of Edelstadt (1612–1698), an imperial lay inquisitor who helmed witch trials in Šumperk and was responsible for the burning to death of over 100 people, including the Šumperk dean Kryštof Lautner and the young servant Zuzana (Soňa Valentová). The inquisitor was not inspired by religion: he divvied up most of the property of his victims with the local nobility… Vávra’s Boblig, played by Vladimír Šmeral, is a sadistic fanatic who used torture and intimidation to force confessions out of dozens of innocent people. The inquisitor’s antithesis is the humanist Launter (Elo Romančík), a prototype of the modern intellectual who despite his moral convictions inevitably falls victim to absurd violence and hatred… In reaction to the political liberalisation of the period, Vávra, who was 58, created an enduring, expressive picture that ranks among his best. The Witch Hunt, which naturally was none too popular with normalisation period censors, brought an end to the interesting, unrestrained 1960s period in the director’s filmography.
The time is the seventeenth century. The beggar Maryna Schuchová hides the Host in her scarf at the Communion. She admits to the parish priest Schmidt that she intended to give it to the midwife Groerová to heal her ailing cow. The young priest declares her a witch and convinces the Šumperk countess de Galle to summon the inquisitor Boblig from Edelstadt. This failed student of law sees the offer as a great opportunity. He uses torture and threats to force the women from the to testify to their meetings with the devil and learn by heart the lies he has made up for the inquisition tribunal. Boblig accuses the wealthy burghers of witchcraft as well, and so wants to seize their possessions. Dean Lautner, who has stood in the way of Boblig's misdoings, is also accused as the devil's partner. Lautner requests the help of the bishop of Olomouc and other members of the clergy, to no avail. Terror spreads throughout the region, and even the countess fears Boblig. Horrified, Schmidt witnesses the consequences of his religious zeal. Lautner and many others are imprisoned and tortured. At first, Lautner is convinced that truth will prevail, but he remains entirely alone. Other burghers are broken and in a delirium-like state keep repeating the parts they learnt by rote. The stakes are burning in the Šumperk region, and the dean himself is finally burnt at one of them. Fear gives Boblig power over everyone. The inquisitor continues to enjoy a peaceful and opulent life to the ripe old age, and even marries late in life.
šumperský děkan Kryštof Alois Lautner
inkvizitor Jindřich František Boblig z Edelstadtu
děkanská kuchařka Zuzana Voglicková
inkviziční písař Ignác
žebračka Maryna Schuchová
porodní bába Dorota Groerová
kořenářka Dorota Davidová zvaná Davidka
lazebnice Dorota Tobiášová
barvíř Kašpar Sattler
Marie, Sattlerova žena
Alžběta zvaná Lízl, dcera Sattlerových
losinský farář Tomáš König
bývalý soudce Kašpar Hutter
mohelnický děkan Jiří Vojtěch Winkler
hraběnka Angelia Anna Sybila de Galle, rozená Žerotínová
biskup olomoucký hrabě Karel II. z Lichtenštejna
hrabě Ignác Karel Matyáš Šternberk, státní rada apelačního soudu
sobotínský farář Eusebius Leandr Schmidt
rychtář František Ferdinand Gaup, přísedící
biskupský sekretář Eliáš Isidor Schmidt, farářův bratr
mnich
zámecký hejtman Adam Vinarský z Křížova, přísedící
kat Jakub Hay zvaný Jokl
lesmistr Kryštof Zeidler, přísedící
biskupský notář JUDr. Jiří Bernard Mayer
děkanský sluha Florian
hejtman Karel Julius Kotulínský z Mírova
mydlář Jan Přerovský
důchodní František Václav Vraný, přísedící
sekretář apelačního soudu Jan Jakub Weingarten
biřic
biřic
biřic
biřic
biřic
matka s dítětem
žebrák
mnich páter Crescentius
mnich Carolus
mnich
lokaj
dozorce Umlauf
lazebnice
sluha
kostelník Jindřich Bittner
ministrant
cechmistrová
cechmistrová
cechmistrová
starý dozorce
žebračka
mrzák
tanečnice
tanečník
tanečnice
tanečník
tanečník
tanečnice
pomocník kata
pomocník kata
pomocník kata
pomocník kata
nahá žena
nahá žena
nahá žena
nahá žena
nahá žena
nahá žena
nahá žena
Milan Klacek, I. Krkošková, Dagmar Nováková
Václav Kaplický (Kladivo na čarodějnice – román)
Stanislav Krejča, Karel Lukáš, Karel Smrž
Jiří Šimon, Libuše Švejdová, J. Novák
František Jaderník, Ludmila Tikovská
Milan Štěch
prof. PhDr. Ing. arch. Václav Mencl, DrSc., František Spurný
Irena Hrušková (klapka), Jitka Bylinská (fotografka)
Song Composer Jiří Srnka
Writer of Lyrics Ester Krumbachová
Singer Pražští madrigalisté
Kladivo na čarodějnice
Kladivo na čarodějnice
The Witch Hunt
film
featuretheatrical distribution
historical, thriller
Czechoslovakia
1969
1969
literary Screenplay approved 9 October 1968
technical Screenplay approved 30 January 1969
start of filming 30 March 1969
end of filming 18 July 1969
the first film copy approved 24 October 1969
projection approval 30 October 1969
withdrawal from distribution 31 March 1988
gala premiere 21 January 1970 (kino 64 U Hradeb, Praha)
premiere 22 January 1970 /unsuitable for youths/ (kina Světozor /9 týdnů/ a Veletrhy /1 týden od 2. 4./, Praha)
premiere 23 January 1970 /unsuitable for youths/ (celostátní)
renewed premiere 1 April 1989 /unsuitable for youths/
Ústřední půjčovna filmů (původní 1970 a obnovená 1989)
Tvůrčí skupina Šebor – Bor, Vladimír Bor (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny), Jiří Šebor (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny)
feature film
103 min
2 929 meters
16mm, 35mm
1:1,66, 1:2,35
black & white
sound
mono
Czech
Czech, Latin
without subtitles
Czech
Festival: 4. festival českých a slovenských filmů FINÁLE Plzeň
1990
Plzeň / Czechoslovakia
Festival: 10. mezinárodní filmový festival Mar del Plata
1970
Mar del Plata / Argentina
Otakar Vávra
Festival: 10. mezinárodní filmový festival Mar del Plata
1970
Mar del Plata / Argentina
Otakar Vávra