The Lord and his Butler

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1938

Production year

1938

Premiere

30 September 1938

Runtime

86 min

Category

film

Genre

comedy

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Pán a sluha

Czech title

Pán a sluha

English title

The Lord and his Butler

Synopsis

Ladislav Tůma, a clerk at a Prague savings bank, has unexpectedly inherited one and a half million crowns from a wealthy uncle who lived in Africa; there is, however, a condition attached to the inheritance, namely that he must employ his trusted butler Vlastimil Chytráček for a year. The sinister Ševčík, Tůma's colleague from an amateur sports club, has his eye on the latter's girlfriend Hana and he has Tůma thrown out of the club under suspicion of being a professional. Tůma is fired from the savings bank since it is the belief that, if a clerk has a butler, he must be an embezzler to have that amount of money. Ševčík also finds out about the will and its condition. Hana urges Tůma to sack Chytráček. Ševčík offers the unusual butler a job as manager in his pressing shop. Tůma discovers that he must "have the status of an employed person" with Chytráček for one year so he accepts the position of apprentice at the pressing shop, thus fulfilling the conditions of the will. He becomes friends with the former butler and tells him that he will share his inheritance with him after the year is up. Ševčík is too late. Chytráček even helps Tůma patch things up with Hana who had left him because of Ševčík's intrigues.

Cast

František Krištof-Veselý

úředník záložny a sportovec Ladislav Tůma

Jindřich Plachta

komorník Vlastimil Chytráček

Václav Trégl

krejčí a básník Václav Mourek

Eva Gerová

Hana Karlíková, Tůmova snoubenka

Rudolf Deyl st.

JUDr. Karlík, prezident sportovního klubu, Hanin otec

Vítězslav Boček

Ing. Josef Ševčík, člen sportovního klubu

Raoul Schránil

sportovec Baloun

František Roland

notář Pazdera

Bedřich Veverka

ředitel záložny Kopecký

František Kreuzmann

pokladní v záložně

Milada Smolíková

Josefa Kadeřábková, Tůmova bytná

Jarmila Beránková

sekretářka notáře Pazdery

Jan W. Speerger

opilý zákazník

Jaroslav Bráška

zákazník záložny Josef Kebrle

Štefan Munk

novinář

Josef Kotalík

kustod klubu

Karel Fořt

člen klubu

Vilém Pruner

člen klubu

Eva Prchlíková

členka klubu

Karel Veverka

psychiatr

Antonín Jirsa

ošetřovatel z blázince

Jaroslav Sadílek

zaměstnanec kanalizační služby

František Filipovský

zaměstnanec kanalizační služby

Bolek Prchal

fanda na kopané

Josef Steigl

fanda na kopané

Kamil Běhounek

akordeonista v orchestru

Crew and creators

Screenstory

A. J. Urban

Screenplay

A. J. Urban

Director of Photography

Ferdinand Pečenka

Production Designer

Štěpán Kopecký

Set Designer

Arnold Reimann

Film Editor

Jan Kohout

Sound Designer

Josef Zora

Production Manager

Jan Sinnreich

Cooperation

Antonín Frič (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Roman Blahník

Music Performed by

Orchestr F.O.K. (Music Conducted by Roman Blahník)

Songs

Směj se jen /Zpívám si/

Song Composer Roman Blahník
Writer of Lyrics Antonín ČejkaKarel Kozel
Singer Arnošt Kavka

Zní píseň přírody, mládí a svobody

Song Composer Roman Blahník
Writer of Lyrics Antonín ČejkaKarel Kozel
Singer Jindřich Plachta [dab]sbor

Production info

Original Title

Pán a sluha

Czech Title

Pán a sluha

English Title

The Lord and his Butler

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

comedy

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1938

Production Year

1938

Production specifications

start of filming 12 April 1938
end of filming 25 April 1938
date of censorship 08/1938
projection approval 7 May 1947 (konec povolení k promítání 7. 5. 1948)

Premiere

premiere 30 September 1938 /suitable for youths/ (kina Letka /1½ týdne/ a Máj /2 týdny/, Praha)
renewed premiere 30 May 1947 /unsuitable for youths/ (kino Máj /4 týdny/, Praha)

Production

Lucernafilm

Copyright Holders

Národní filmový archiv

Distribution

AB (původní 1938), Státní půjčovna filmů (obnovená 1947)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

86 min

Original length in metres

2 447 meters

Distribution carrier

35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

black & white

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

Tobis – Klang

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech