Heavy traffic prevents Claudie's mother from getting to the airport on time to pick up her daughter. Claudie has a little money and so she takes a taxi. The taxi driver is very annoyed because he could have picked up a rich foreigner instead of Claudie, and so at the first opportunity he throws Claudie out of the car. Only little figurine of Mr Tau is still there on the back seat. The taxi man's behaviour doesn't go unpunished: the feathers start jumping out of the upholstery of his car, smoke starts to pour out and in the end the taxi collides with a car taking a bride to her wedding. It is all the work of Mr Tau. To make sure that the bride doesn't suffer for the sins of the furious taxi driver, the little Tau transforms himself into human size and takes the bride to the town hall. The taxi driver now realizes that the lifeless little doll with the bowler hat is responsible for his misfortunes. He throws it out of the window, but only manages to destroy a policeman's booth. His subsequent drastic attempts to destroy the doll fare no better. In the end, he tries to throw it onto hot asphalt or under a steam roller. His car immediately explodes. Just then, the taxi driver gets a glimpse of the weary Claudie. He runs up to her and returns the Tau doll. When he turns round, he sees his car undamaged and Claudie leaving hand in hand with a man who looks exactly like the little doll that had been sitting in his car.
The story Mr Tau and a Taxi Driver was distributed in cinemas in a block with two other stories: Search for Mr Tau and Mr Tau and Thousand Spells.
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.
pan Tau
Claudie, Violova vnučka
taxikář
řidič cholerik
Claudiina maminka
dopravní policista
dopravní policista
nevěsta
nevěstin otec
pasažér
řidič
letuška
zelinář
řezník
Jiří Potsch, Robert Vacík
Jaroslav Tuzar, Vladimír Malík (loutková část)
Stanislav Látal (loutková část)
Jan Petrů, Václav Pošta, Jiří Žůček
Dana Dudová, Jan Syrový, Martin Baroch
Dagmar Ševčíková (klapka), Josef Vítek (fotograf)
FISYO (Music Conducted by František BelfínMilivoj Uzelac)
Pan Tau a taxikář
Pan Tau a taxikář
Mr Tau and the Taxi-Driver
Pan Tau fährt Taxi / Pan Tau fährt Taxi
Claudie a taxikář / Pan Tau 4.
film
featuretheatrical distribution
children
Czechoslovakia, Federal Republic of Germany, Austria
1971
1969—1971
literary Screenplay approved 4 March 1969
start of filming 28 July 1969
end of filming 26 September 1971
the first film copy approved 15 December 1971
projection approval 18 February 1972
withdrawal from distribution 30 June 1995
premiere 5 May 1972 /suitable for youths/ (celostátní)
premiere 11 May 1972 /suitable for youths/ (kino Hvězda, Praha)
Dramaturgická skupina Oty Hofmana, Ota Hofman (vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny), Výrobní skupina Ericha Švabíka, Erich Švabík (vedoucí výrobní skupiny)
medium length film
33 min
919 meters
16mm, 35mm
1:1,37
colour
sound
mono
Czech
Czech
without subtitles
Czech