Shipwreck

Country

Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria

Copyright

1983

Production year

1983

Premiere

1 June 1984

Runtime

84 min

Director

Ivo Toman

Category

film

Genre

adventure, historical

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Vrak

Czech title

Vrak

English title

Shipwreck

Co-production title

Tajnata na Apolonija

Summary

The classic literary work of Scottish novelist Robert Louis Stevenson novel spurred screenwriters to script this adventure movie by transferring a storyline to the Bulgarian city of Varna, on the Black Sea. Vrak (Shipwreck), a coproduction with Bulgarian filmmakers, takes the audience back to the year of 1908. The main character is a young Czech man, František Roučka. While in the employment of his father’s schoolmate Schuman, he witnesses the ruthless scheming of a Greek ship owner. Roučka goes on to discover that the owner of the shipwrecked Apolonia has handed over Bulgarian patriots to the Turks. The Bulgarians have thus paid the ultimate price for their attempt to return to home soil… Director Ivo Toman cast David Vejražka in the role of the uncompromising Roučka. An interesting aspect of this 1983 film is the casting of Olga Schoberová. The role of Schuman’s wife Klára would be her last appearance on the silver screen.

Synopsis

It is 1908. A young man from Prague, named František Roučka, arrives in the Bulgarian city of Varna to launch his business career there on his father's wish and under his former schoolmate Helmut Schuman. Helmut ranks amongst the respected entrepreneurs in Varna. He learns from the newspaper about the foundering of the Greek ship Apolonia which was transporting leather to the value of twenty thousand Leva. The two friends decide to buy the shipwreck. But visiting the Apolonia's captain, named Nikos, who behaves very oddly, makes them feel that the ship was carrying something much more valuable than leather. Attorney Berger, however, shows up at the auction, driving the price up to seventy thousand Leva and, in negotiation, even offers Helmut and František one hundred thousand Leva to surrender the shipwreck to him. The two men refuse. They find out during their next visit to Nikos that the captain has been murdered. They thus hire a boat with a crew and František sets off to the shipwreck. He does not trust anybody because unpredictible things keep happening on the hired boat. They eventually reach the shipwreck, finding no gold but corpses hidden under the leathers. One of the sailors, named Janis, tells them about the horrifying events that occurred on the ship. The dead men are the Bulgarians who were escaping from Turkey, but as soon as they paid the ship's owner, he sold them back to the Turks. Captain Nikos protested against this practice. The Bulgarians were killed right away, then Nikos later, on dry land. The two friends find out after their return that the man behind the crimes was doctor Feldek, an esteemed businessman. Helmut accepts a bribe from him for his silence, but František is firmly resolved to contribute to the culprit's punishment.

Cast

David Vejražka

František Roučka

Jan Piechociński

Voice by Ladislav Županič
obchodník Helmut Schuman

Olga Schoberová

Voice by Veronika Freimanová
Klára, Helmutova žena

Stojčo Mazgalov

Voice by Bohumil Švarc
kapitán Nastev

Petar Slabakov

Voice by Milan Mach
Nikos, kapitán lodi Apolonie

Ilja Racek

loďmistr Neuerburg

Miroslav Macháček

advokát Berger

Javor Milušev

Voice by Karel Chromík
námořník Janis

Bogomil Atanasov

Voice by Jiří Novotný
námořník Pečkov

Veliko Stojanov

Voice by Jiří Štěpnička
kormidelník Koster

Alexandr Lilov

Voice by Jiří Havel
námořník Max

Josef Hajdučík

obchodník Danailov

Rudolf Horák

Reichen

Vladimír Huber

starý sluha

Karel Koloušek

člen správní rady Kokinis

Jan Kuželka

fotograf

Jan Cmíral

číšník

Stefan Kostov

Voice by Dalimil Klapka
kuchař Nassie

Stanislav Němec

muž ve vestě

Rudolf Mráz

recepční

Blažej Vráb

člen správní rady

Arnošt Böhm

turecký voják

Jiří Kalenský

turecký voják

Ladislav Lahoda

turecký voják

Petr Jákl

námořník

Petr Drozda

námořník

Hana Forejtová

mladá žena

Pavel Myslík

pravoslavný kněz

Jakim Michov

Voice by Václav Kaňkovský
vyvolávač Kasatonov

Ivan Jordanov

hospodský Trajko

Petar Getov

Jaroslav Tomsa

dubl za Petara Slabakova

Crew and creators

Director

Ivo Toman

Second Unit Director

Josef Loučím, Radost Račeva

Assistant Director

Aleš Voverka, Vasja Panova, Nikolaj Bosilkov

Based on

Robert Louis Stevenson (Vrak /The Wrecker/ – román)

Shooting Script

Ivo Toman

Dramaturg

Karel Cop

Director of Photography

Viktor Růžička

Second Unit Photography

Oldřich Kovář (kamera)

Assistent Production Designer

Orlin Nedelčev, Petr Pištěk

Set Designer

Todorka Bistrekova, Karel Kracík, Miloš Sršeň, Milan Šefrna

Film Editor

Petr Sitár

Production Manager

Blažej Vráb, Ivan Kordov

Unit Production Manager

Rudolf Mos, Miladin Ivanov, Hana Štefanová

Unit Production Manager

Přemysl Čermák

Cooperation

Renata Čihulková (klapka), Alena Červená (fotografka)

Dialogues of Czech version

Zdenek Sirový

Direction of Czech version

Zdenek Sirový

Music

Music Composed by

Ivan Kurz

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by Štěpán Koníček)

Production info

Original Title

Vrak

Czech Title

Vrak

English Title

Shipwreck

Co-production Title

Tajnata na Apolonija

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

adventure, historical

Origin country

Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria

Copyright

1983

Production Year

1983

Production specifications

withdrawal from distribution 31 December 1989

Premiere

premiere 1 June 1984 /suitable for youths/

Studio

Hostivař

Creative Group

2. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupina, Josef Císař (vedoucí 2. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

84 min

Original length in metres

2 401 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