The Golden Eels

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1979

Production year

1979

Premiere

8 February 2007

Runtime

83 min

Category

film

Genre

drama, poetic

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Zlatí úhoři

Czech title

Zlatí úhoři

English title

The Golden Eels

Summary

First of director Kachyňa's two adaptations of Ota Pavel's (1930–1973) famous semi-autobiographic story collection, The Golden Eels (1979), named after one of the author's prosaic stories, was made as a film for television. Before this filming began, two earlier scripts by FAMU students were written, Carps for Wehrmacht (1975, director Karel Smyczek) and The Death of the Beautiful Roebucks (1975, director Vladimír Merta). It was followed by Kachyňa's own adaptation of The Death of the Beautiful Roebucks (1986), partly based on the story of The Golden Eels film with some evolution of the plot. While making this film, Kachyňa collaborated on the script with Dušan Hamšík, who was not officially allowed to work as a writer at that time. – Like the original story, the famous Czech filmmaker uses the narrative of a child, in this case the youngest of three children whose father is a distinctive and life-loving fisherman. The boy called Little Bum is having a great time in Mr. Prošek's cottage and experiences his first fishing adventures. These idyllic times come to an end in 1939 with the occupation of Czechoslovakia. The film shows not only the tragedy of the Lidice village, but also other tragedies caused by the Nazis (the arrest of Rozvědčík, deportation of the father and two older brothers to the concentration camp). The most significant is, however, the nostalgic atmosphere of the life by the river (the story is situated in Křivoklátsko region by the Berounka river) which is followed by the depression of the world war.

Synopsis

The father takes his family, three boys and his wife, for the holidays to Mr. Prošek, who lives and works by the Berounka river. The father tells stories about fish and fishing, as well as about Prošek, the king of fishermen. – The youngest son called Little Bum goes to pick up his father from the U Rozvědčíka pub in the evening. Here he meets the beautiful Mrs. Rozvědčíková. – Mom is angry with the father in the morning. As his father has told him, Little Bum steals a washing line for the baits. The father takes the boy fishing when it stops raining in the evening. He is convinced that they will catch the golden eels. He sends the child with a rope right into the stream of the river and when he wants to pull his son out, he barely makes it. – Little Bum is not allowed to go fishing with others the next day. Mr. Prošek gives him a fishing rod and he catches and kills his first fish. Prošek hangs the fish skin on the door and the boy is very proud of himself. – Little Bum brings to Mrs. Rozvědčíková a trout, which he stabbed with a knife in a pond under the rock. – The boys and their mother find a lot of mushrooms in the forest. However, the mother is sad: according to the superstition, this means that a war is coming. She has a vision where she sees the corpses of her sons in the river. – The war has started. The family moved from Prague to their grandmother's country house. Mr. Prošek brings some food supplies for the father and the older boys who are being deported to the concentration camp. – Little Bum goes to Prošek and catches three eels. Mr. Janouch smokes them for him. But the smoked eels are too salty for the father, so his disappointed son buries them with their fish brothers. In the morning, he says goodbye to his father. – Little Bum takes his father's fishing rod, a hat and a jacket from the closet and goes poaching to the pond near the castle where the German soldiers are stationed. With some help from the innkeeper Oplt, he escapes from an angry water bailiff. Mom is angry with him, but the boy does not listen to her and goes to the pond again. This time the water bailiff catches him, but instead of telling him off, he gives him some advice on how to poach better. – Little Bum starts to sell fish, but only until the Germans ceremoniously drain the pond. – After the massacre in the nearby Lidice, the mother sends her son to Prošek. – Little Bum catches three trouts under the rock, where the Germans later kill fish with a hand grenade. – The boy gives the fish he caught to Mrs. Rozvědčíková. He witnesses how the resistance fighter Rozvědčík tries to escape during the interrogation but fails. A Nazi commissioner also takes his wife away. Mr. Prošek saves Little Bum from the Nazis at the last moment. – According to Mr. Prošek, they will catch a lot of eels in the evening. When they finally go fishing, Little Bum cannot keep up when he puts all the eels in the buckets. In the morning, he remembers his father's words about the golden eels and releases the eels back into the river.

Cast

Rudolf Hrušínský

převozník Prošek

Martin Mikuláš

nejmladší syn zvaný Prdelka

Radoslav Brzobohatý

hostinský zvaný Rozvědčík

Eliška Balzerová

Rozvědčíkova žena

Tomáš Murdych

syn, Prdelkův bratr

Michal Vejrostek

syn, Prdelkův bratr

Zdeněk Martínek

Franci Janouch

Bronislav Poloczek

hostinský Oplt

Václav Mareš

komisař gestapa

Josef Vorel

Commentary

Dubbing

Jindřich Narenta

hlas německého důstojníka

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Milada Mikešová

Assistant Director

Stanislava Hutková

Based on

Ota Pavel (Zlatí úhoři – motivy ze sbírky povídek)

Shooting Script

Karel Kachyňa

Director of Photography

Jan Čuřík

Second Unit Photography

Pavel Nečesal

Camera Operator

David Remunda

Production Designer

Jan Oliva

Set Designer

Jan Petrů

Costume Designer

Eliška Kachyňová

Film Editor

Jiří Brožek

Sound Designer

Pavel Jelínek, Ivo Špalj (mix zvuku)

Production Manager

Jaromír Lukáš

Unit Production Manager

Jaroslav Vlk, Milana Melcerová

Unit Production Manager

Dagmar Pitráková

Music

Music Composed by

Luboš Fišer

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)

Songs

Noc už se krátí

Song Composer Luboš Fišer
Writer of Lyrics Pavel Kopta
Singer Inka Zemánková

Tulák všude domov má

Singer Vladimír Menšík

U Šímovic skály dva trampové stáli

Singer Vladimír MenšíkMartin MikulášTomáš MurdychMichal Vejrostek

Až já odtud povandruju dám si uzel na uzel

Singer Martin MikulášTomáš MurdychMichal Vejrostek

Production info

Original Title

Zlatí úhoři

Czech Title

Zlatí úhoři

English Title

The Golden Eels

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

drama, poetic

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1979

Production Year

1979

Premiere

non-distribution premiere 4 September 1979 (televizní uvedení ČST 2)
distribution premiere 8 February 2007 /recommended for 12 and over/ (kinokavárna, Ostrov nad Ohří)

Distribution slogan

The famous Czech film by director Karel Kachyňa based on the stories of Ota Pavel.

Copyright Holders

Česká televize

Studio

Hostivař

Distribution

Atypfilm, s. r. o. (uvedení v kinech 2007), Československá televize Praha (uvedení v televizi 1979)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

83 min

Original length in metres

2 382 meters

Distribution carrier

35mm, DVD

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

Awards

Vítěz

Event: 31. mezinárodní soutěž o nejlepší rozhlasové a televizní programy Prix Italia

1979
Lecce / Italy