"Mareček, Please Pass Me a Pen!"

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1976

Production year

1976

Premiere

8 October 1976

Runtime

95 min

Category

film

Genre

comedy

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

„Marečku, podejte mi pero!“

Czech title

„Marečku, podejte mi pero!“

English title

"Mareček, Please Pass Me a Pen!"

Summary

In 1976 the screenwriters Zdeněk Svěrák and Ladislav Smoljak built on the tradition of Martin Frič’s secondary school comedies. With Jáchyme, hoď ho do stroje! (Joachim, Put Him into the Machine!) (1974) they demonstrated that their distinctive humour was the perfect match for the precise, playful approach of director Oldřich Lipský. Like Joachim, Put Him into the Machine!, the comedy „Marečku, podejte mi pero!“ (“Mareček, Please Pass Me a Pen!”) is a casual contemporary story that fulfils the demands of society in a subtle, cultivated manner. As part of moves to boost the qualifications of the working professions, Jiří Kroupa, an aging foreman at an agricultural machinery factory, has to finish technical school. He thus unwillingly spends his evenings at the same desk where his teenage son sits during the day. His distaste for learning, which moreover he finds difficult, has a disastrous impact on his results. Kroupa Sr. has to marshal all his forces in order to prevent the pedantic sycophant Hujer (Václav Lohniský) from acquiring the boss’s job at a modern plant… However, the essence of the comedic plot filled with verbal gags and situational humour is not Kroupa’s study problems but the very situation of adults being forced to experience the stumbling blocks of everyday school life. The heterogeneous classmates are quickly transformed into a typical school class in which alongside the swot Hujer the infantile flirt Týfová (Iva Janžurová), naive striver Plha (Josef Kemr) and inseparable provocateurs Tuček and Šlajs (Smoljak and Svěrák) stand out. Clashes between the “dim-witted” overage students and the demands of secondary education are another source of comic situations. Dozens of humorous lines in Lipský’s most loved film caught on and have become part of the culture. An outstanding cast is dominated by Jiří Sovák and his (then 27-year-old) son Jiří Schmitzer as Kroupa senior and junior. However, the titular Mareček does not exist – the pupil lives only in the memory of the senile Professor Hrbolek.

Synopsis

A factory producing agricultural machines is about to be thoroughly modernized. If he wants to keep his job, master craftsman Kroupa is going to have to improve his qualifications through further training and completing his school-leaving exams. Kroupa is persuaded to go back to school by his subordinates who fear that the unbearable Hujer, who has already signed on for schooling, may get promoted and take Kroupa's place. The students at the evening classes of the technical college are all middle-aged people. Even so, there are go-getters, shirkers and slobs among them just like in any other school. The elderly Czech language professor Hrbolek keeps calling the unruly Tuček by the name of Mareček, and refuses to excuse the absence of Hliník, who has moved to Humpolec. Master Kroupa is trying hard. He just about manages to grind through the poetry, but unlike his son Jirka who is studying at the same school, he is hopeless at mathematics. Kroupa rejects the amorous advances of his eccentric fellow student Eva Týfová. A billet-doux with an invitation for a date at the cemetery causes Kroupa problems. Týfová is convinced that the note is intended for her and insists on an apology. Kroupa's marriage almost collapses but then it becomes clear that it was Jirka who wrote the letter to his girlfriend Eva Tůmová. Relatives in ample numbers join the parents' association meeting, with fourteen people representing the crawler Hujer alone. Kroupa suppresses his pride, agrees to take mathematics classes from his son Jirka and greatly improves his grades. They finally both receive pretty good school degrees. After a while, in the modern assembly shop, master Kroupa is running production automatically from a glassed-in cabin.

Cast

Jiří Sovák

mistr Jiří Kroupa st., večerní student

Míla Myslíková

manželka Jiřího Kroupy st.

Jiří Schmitzer

student Jiří, syn Kroupových

Václav Lohniský

kontrolor Viktor Hujer/Robert, Hujerův bratr

Iva Janžurová

Eva Týfová, spolužačka Kroupy st.

Josef Kemr

skladník šroubárny Plha, večerní student

Ladislav Smoljak

večerní student Tuček zvaný Mareček

Zdeněk Svěrák

večerní student Šlajs zvaný Hustoles

František Kovářík

profesor češtiny Hrbolek

Josef Abrhám

třídní profesor Čeněk Janda, matikář

Taťjana Medvecká

Eva Tůmová, přítelkyně Kroupy ml.

Jan Skopeček

náměstek Kalivoda

Milena Dvorská

Outratová, Kroupova spolupracovnice

Marie Motlová

svačinářka Zuzanka

Jaroslava Obermaierová

profesorka fyziky Zíková

František Filipovský

profesor chemie Lapáček

Jiří Hálek

ředitel školy

Petr Nárožný

Ing. Emil Týfa

Jaroslav Weigel

Rousek, Kroupův spolupracovník

Petr Brukner

Famfula, Kroupův spolupracovník

Vladimír Hrabánek

Hora, Kroupův spolupracovník

Pavel Vondruška

pracovník odbytu Svátek, večerní student

Jiří Lír

večerní student Dudek

Zdeněk Srstka

mistr v lakovně Mužík, večerní student

Libuše Švormová

večerní studentka Ječná

Vladimír Hrubý

vrátný u vlečky

Václav Trégl

Plhův stařičký otec

Oldřich Velen

Hujerův strýc

Darja Hajská

teta Máňa, Hujerova příbuzná

Roman Čada

Hujerův synovec

Markéta Čaňková

Hujerova neteř

Václav Kotva

přednosta stanice

Tomáš Holý

žák Matula

Jaroslav Vozáb

tlumočník

Miloš Drahota

učeň

Jan Dvořák (3)

student

Lydie Havláková

studentka

Daniela Kopecká

studentka

Jiří Kosek

student

Gabriela Osvaldová

studentka Knittlová

Miluše Pěnkavová

studentka

Leoš Slavkovský

student

Václav David

večerní student

Karel Fiala

zámečník Březina, večerní student

Jiří Flíček

večerní student

Marie Petrová

večerní studentka

Naděžda Slavkovská

večerní studentka

Eva Strychová

večerní studentka

Václav Špidla

večerní student

Miloš Švarc

večerní student

Jaromír Vogel

večerní student

František Zeman

večerní student

Soňa Vlčková

kolegyně

Otto Hudrlík

mladší profesor

Viktor Rindler

Voice by Martin Mahdal
montér

Libuše Štědrá

Tučkova dcera

Markéta Procházková (2)

Šlajsova žena

Olga Michálková

Hujerova švagrová

Milada Kadeřábková

Hujerova žena

Erich Fichtner

Hujerův bratranec

Květuše Zemanová

Zelenková, Hujerova sestra

Josef Střecha

příbuzný Hujera

Jiřina Bílá

příbuzná Hujera

Karel Bodnár

měřič s pásmem

Miloš Větvička

starší profesor

Miroslav Vrba

Svátkův syn

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Aleš Dospiva

Assistant Director

Martin Mahdal

Shooting Script

Oldřich Lipský

Director of Photography

Jiří Macák

Second Unit Photography

Oldřich Hubáček

Camera Operator

Bohumír Schwarzer

Production Designer

Jiří Hlupý

Assistent Production Designer

Jaromír Švarc

Set Designer

Jan Petrů, Václav Pošta, Jan Jindra

Costume Designer

Theodor Pištěk ml.

Film Editor

Miroslav Hájek

Assistant Film Editor

Magda Hájková, Věra Kopková

Sound Designer

Jiří Lenoch

Production Manager

Jaromír Lukáš

Unit Production Manager

Miroslav Dousek, Milana Melcerová

Unit Production Manager

Jiří Synek

Consultant

Josef Vysoký

Cooperation

Jaroslava Frančová (klapka), Pavel Brodil (vrchní osvětlovač), Jan Kuděla (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Svatopluk Havelka

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)

Songs

Prší, prší

Singer sbor

Production info

Original Title

„Marečku, podejte mi pero!“

Czech Title

„Marečku, podejte mi pero!“

English Title

"Mareček, Please Pass Me a Pen!"

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

comedy

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1976

Production Year

1976

Production specifications

withdrawal from distribution 1 October 1993

Premiere

festival premiere 17 June 1976 (27. filmový festival pracujících – léto ´76 /kino Blaník, Praha/)
premiere 1 July 1976 /suitable for youths/ (kino Sevastopol, Praha)
premiere 8 October 1976 /suitable for youths/ (celostátní)
renewed premiere 6 October 2022 /suitable for all ages without limit/

Studio

Hostivař

Distribution

Ústřední půjčovna filmů (původní 1976), Národní filmový archiv (obnovená 2022)

Creative Group

Dramaturgická skupina Miloše Brože, Miloš Brož (vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

95 min

Original length in metres

2 590 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm, DCP 2-D, BRD

Aspect ratio

1:1,66

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech

Awards

Vítěz

Festival: 15. festival českých a slovenských filmů Bratislava

1977
Bratislava / Czechoslovakia
Oldřich Lipský

Vítěz

Festival: 27. filmový festival pracujících – léto '76

1976
48 měst / Czechoslovakia