Mr Tau and Claudia

Country

Czechoslovakia, Federal Republic of Germany, Austria

Copyright

1970

Production year

1970

Premiere

31 March 1972

Runtime

32 min

Category

film

Genre

children

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionmedium

Original title

Pan Tau a Claudie

Czech title

Pan Tau a Claudie

English title

Mr Tau and Claudia

Co-production title

Pan Tau und Claudia im Schloss / Pan Tau und Claudia im Schloss

Working title

Kde je Claudie? / Pan Tau 4.

Synopsis

Little Claudia lives in the small chateau of her grandfather, Mr Viola, owner of a syndicate. She is surrounded by luxury, servants and toys, but still is not completely happy. Her mother is far away and the grandfather is too busy to find time for her. One day, a puppet of a little man wearing a bowler hat and carrying a little umbrella descends to her and turns into an adult man in front of her eyes. It is the magic Mr Tau, who does not like to see children sad and tries to help Claudia. The little girl wishes to return to the times of knights, and when she wakes up the next day, everything at the chateau looks like in the old times: the furniture, clothing, equipage with the team of horses... Mr Viola considers all this the work of his wicked competition while the journalists mistake his historical costume for an advertising trick. The biggest surprise comes when, at the press conference, Viola take a beautiful musical machine out of the case instead of the expected mini-TV. Surprisingly, there is a great interest in the machine on the market. The old Viola rushes to meet Claudia who in the meantime begs her mother on the phone to come for her. But when she sees her granddad in the historic costume, she decides to stay and goes with him to the park where they begin to play together. Mr Tau is satisfied - Claudie is happy. He swirls his bowler and the magic disappears. The granddad and Claudia are dressed in jeans again, the ancient coach turned to a modern car... Mr Tau bows and says good bye.

Note

The film was distributed to Czech cinemas as part of the series Mr Tau and Claudia along with the feature film of the same title and the Czech cartoon film Circus (directed by Zdeněk Seydl and Ludvík Kadleček) and the American titles Lambert the Sheepish Lion, Ventriloquist Cat and Much Ado About Mousing.

The first (I.) series of thirteen medium-length films about Mr Tau was created in the years 1969–1972. It was first launched in cinemas, in series composed of two parts and accompanied by a cartoon movie (1. Mr Tau Arrives, 2. Mr Tau Gives Presents, 3. Mr Tau at the Mountains, 4. Mr Tau and Sunday, 5. Mr Tau Goes to School, 6. Mr Tau and Cold!, 7. Mr Tau and Claudia, 8. Mr Tau Will Handle It, 9. Mr Tau and Trip around the World, 10. Mr Tau in Circus, 11. Mr Tau and the Taxi Driver, 12. Mr Tau Wanted, 13. Mr Tau and a Thousand Miracles). In the Czechoslovak Television, the series was first introduced in December 1972. Due to its success, another thirteen parts (II.) were filmed in 1973–1975, this time intended exclusively for television (1. Mr Tau Returns, 2. Mr Tau and Robinson, 3. Mr Tau and Too Big Balloon, 4. Mr Tau and Dog Goaty-Dog, 5. Mr Tau and Family Celebration, 6. Mr Tau Goes to Work, 7. Mr Tau and Five Pears and Three Apples, 8. Mr Tau and Black Umbrella, 9. Mr Tau and Big Dog, 10. Mr Tau and Tree-Frog. 11. Mr Tau and Alladin Lamp, 12. Mr Tau and Golden Suitcase, 13. Mr Tau Leaves). The third (III.) and last (seven-part) series was filmed in the years 1977 and 1978 (1. Alert in the Sky, 2. Elephant Hunt, 3. Night at Safari, 4. Mr Tau and Woman-Magician, 5. Mr Tau at Pioneer Camp, 6. Mr Tau – And Which Is the Right One?, 7. No Magic from Tomorrow). On TV, the third series was introduced as a series in the original form and was edited for the film distribution into two feature films Alert in the Sky and No Magic from Tomorrow. The popular bowlered hero last appeared in the feature film Mr Tau, created by a German-Czechoslovak co-production in 1988.

Cast

Jan Werich

bohatý pan Viola

Veronika Renčová

Claudie, Violova vnučka

Věra Ferbasová

guvernantka

Jan Skopeček

vedoucí výzkumu

Karel Pavlík

ředitel prodeje

Jiří Lír

komorník

Miloš Vavruška

muž z koncernu/herec v TV filmu

Mirko Musil

muž z koncernu

Jan Víšek

muž z koncernu

Jaroslav Mareš

muž z koncernu

Bedřich Šetena

muž z koncernu

Jana Sedlmajerová

sekretářka

Jiří Bruder

televizní reportér

Ilona Jirotková

novinářka

Magda Maděrová

novinářka

Ivana Herglotzová

komorná

Eduard Dubský

herec v televizním filmu

Jaroslav Tomsa

rváč v televizním filmu

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Vladimír Zelenka

Assistant Director

Vilém Kijonka

Continuity

Pavla Marková

Director of Photography

Jaroslav Tuzar, Vladimír Malík (loutková část)

Second Unit Photography

Miloš Petrolín

Camera Operator

Jiří Knotek

Production Designer

Jiří Hlupý, Miroslav Hrachovec

Art Director

Stanislava Procházková (loutková část)

Set Designer

Václav Pošta, Jan Petrů, Jiří Žůček

Costume Designer

Jan Kropáček

Assistant Film Editor

Růžena Hejsková

Sound Designer

Jaromír Svoboda

Special Effects

Trikový ateliér FSB

Production Manager

Gustav Rohan

Unit Production Manager

Martin Baroch, Jan Syrový, Karel Prchal

Unit Production Manager

Lucie Hertlová

Cooperation

Zorka Chrastinová (klapka)

Music

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín), Orchestr Karla Vlacha (Music Conducted by Karel Vlach)

Singer

Magda Hrnčířová, sbor

Production info

Original Title

Pan Tau a Claudie

Czech Title

Pan Tau a Claudie

English Title

Mr Tau and Claudia

Co-production Title

Pan Tau und Claudia im Schloss / Pan Tau und Claudia im Schloss

Working Title

Kde je Claudie? / Pan Tau 4.

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

children

Origin country

Czechoslovakia, Federal Republic of Germany, Austria

Copyright

1970

Production Year

1970

Production specifications

projection approval 26 May 1971
the first film copy approved 15 December 1971

Premiere

premiere 30 March 1972 /suitable for youths/ (kino Tatra, Praha)
premiere 31 March 1972 /suitable for youths/ (celostátní)

Copyright Holders

Česká televize

Creative Group

Tvůrčí skupina Švabík – Hofman (příprava), Ota Hofman (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny a vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny), Erich Švabík (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny a vedoucí výrobní skupiny), Dramaturgická skupina Oty Hofmana, Výrobní skupina Ericha Švabíka

Technical info

Duration typology

medium length film

Duration in minutes

32 min

Original length in metres

915 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