Children’s film specialist Ota Koval adapted his modern fairytale Modré z nebe (1983) from a Hungarian writer Béla Balázs' children's story Az igazi égszinkék (Real Azure Blue). The main character is 10-year-old Tomáš Lorenc who finds that poverty is hampering his great passion – drawing. His mother lacks the money to pay for the blue colour he needs to finish a drawing for school. Fortunately, our needy hero can still rely on his ability to dream to compensate for life’s deprivations. In his imagination Tomáš uses a magic paint and, moreover, experiences a series of lively adventures with the beautiful Sylva, whom he eventually meets in real life. This poetic film uses the natural charm of non-professional child actor Martin Filip to good effect. The parts of the grown-ups were played by experienced actors including Josef Somr, Jiří Kodet and Jan Hartl.
The ten-year old Tomá Lorenc distributes the laundry washed by his mother to her customers on a bicycle even before his school classes. His mum also does laundry for the wealthy Hájek family whose daughter Markétka Tomá secretly loves. Tomá does not have good marks at school, he only excells at drawing. He paints every free moment but he often does not have enough paint. Right now, he lacks blue, and he thus cannot complete a picture for the school. His mum does not have enough money to buy it. In the evening, the sad Tomá falls asleep in an ancient chest in the attic and suddenly finds himself on a meadow full of blue flowers. He picks them and makes some blue paint out of them. Now, he can finish his picture, and the picture comes alive. Even his cat named Snow White turns blue when it drinks milk with several drops of the blue. Tomá's life changes from this moment on. He experiences various things in his dreams with the equestrian Sylva, who is the spitting image of a girl from the Bellinzona circus poster. Together, they search for the cat which Tomá's mother sold to the circus; they face the ringmaster who wants to use Tomá's magic picture in his freakshow. When Tomá wakes up in the chest, his cat is snow white again. He also meets the real Sylva by the Bellinzona circus poster. He gives her a ride on his bicycle. They ride through the town and pass a dressed up Markétka, as well as the stingy Kamil who did not want to lend Tomá the blue paint.
Tomáš Lorenc
krasojezdkyně Sylva
Markéta Hájková
Kamil Dubský, Tomášův spolužák
inspektor Saueressig/starosta/principál
třídní učitel/velitel hasičů/krotitel
učitel kreslení/hasič/sadař/zřízenec cirkusu
opravář Rudolf Meisner
Markétina matka
pradlena Lorencová, Tomášova matka
rakvář
lakýrník
pierot
klaun
holič Gustav Hrdlička/silueta strýce
lilipután
Voice by Mirko Musil
učitel hudby
školník
služka
zrzavá holčička
livrejovaný kočí
šprt Ládecký
vrátný
slečna Máňa
zřízenec v parku
hudebník/silueta dirigenta
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
silák
zřízenec
dubl za Lucii Novotnou
František Nejedlý
Béla Balázs (Opravdový blankyt /Az igazi égszínkék/ – pohádka)
Miroslav Buberle, Vladimír Ježek, Jiří Žák, Ladislav Winkelhöfer
Ludmila Venclíková, Milan Štěch
Zdeněk Podhola, Irena Sedláčková, Vítězslava Marčíková
Lenka Mojžíšová (klapka), Miloš Schmiedberger (fotograf)
Leoš Janáček (Sinfonietta)
FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín), Nora Grumlíková
Singer Jiří Zahajský
Song Composer E. F. Burian
Writer of Lyrics Josef Gruss
Singer E. F. Burian
Song Composer lidová píseň
Singer dívčí sbor
Modré z nebe
Modré z nebe
The Blue Gift from Heaven
film
featuretheatrical distribution
children, fairytale
Czechoslovakia
1983
1983
withdrawal from distribution 30 June 1990
premiere 1 February 1984 /suitable for youths/
4. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupina, Stanislav Rudolf (vedoucí 4. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupiny)
feature film
78 min
2 245 meters
16mm, 35mm
1:1,37
colour
sound
mono
Czech
Czech
without subtitles
Czech
Event: Komise pro posuzování a hodnocení technické kvality filmů
1984
Praha / Czechoslovakia