This top work of art by actor and director Hugo Haas is a film adaptation of an allegorical play by Karel Čapek, which he had mastered as a then 36-year-old artist already on the theatre stage. As a screenwriter and director, Haas fulfilled a humanistic concept that in 1937 strongly resonated in a Europe engulfed by Nazi aggression. In the allegorical narrative, Haas plays the accomplished physician Galén, who discovers a cure for a disease known as "the white sickness". But he refuses to reveal the cure to the malicious Marshal (Zdeněk Štěpánek), who is waging a war of conquest on a neighbouring country... Unlike Čapek's novel, the film adaptation has a happy ending, connected to the figure of an ally of Galén's country – Dr. Martin (Jaroslav Průcha). Moreover, Haas's contemporary finale further emphasises the moral responsibility and redemptive role of intellectuals during dramatic, historic times.
The marshal provokes the men of his land to a war of aggression against the neighbouring country. The inhabitants accept his plans with enthusiasm, for according to the marshal's promises they will win fame and fortune in the war. In the meantime an incurable disease, called the white sickness, is spreading across the land. Dr. Galén, who treats the poor, discovers a cure and tests it in the clinic of Dr. Sigelius, the marshal's favorite. The results are excellent and Dr. Sigelius shamelessly accepts the credit for Galén's cure. But Galén will give out the process for preparing the cure only with the condition that preparations for the war be halted. The marshal refuses the condition and declares war. Thus Galén treats only the poor patients who have no share in the war. The marshal is stricken with the white sickness and only then is he willing to put an end to the fighting. He summons Galén, who hastens to the marshal's palace with the medication only to be killed by a militant throng. During the clash the ampule of medicine is broken. Nevertheless the marshal signs an order to end the fighting and speaks to the people about peace. The dead Galén is remembered by his friend, a doctor from the neighbouring country that was attacked. Before his death Galén had confided in him the secret of his cure and so the country can be saved.
MUDr. Galén
maršál
maršálova dcera Aneta
dvorní rada profesor MUDr. Sigelius
baron Olaf Krog
Krogův synovec Pavel, maršálův pobočník
MUDr. Martin, lékař z malé sousední země
ministr propagandy
vysoký úředník ministerského kabinetu
otec, účetní ředitel u Kroga
matka, manželka účetního ředitele
dcera účetního ředitele
syn účetního ředitele
maršálův pobočník
první asistent kliniky
druhý asistent kliniky
matka druhého asistenta
vysoký úředník ministerského kabinetu
člen maršálovy družiny
asistent na klinice
asistent na klinice
vrátný ve zbrojovce
novinář
novinář
novinář
pacient doktora Galéna
pacient doktora Galéna
pacient doktora Galéna
pacient doktora Galéna
pacientka doktora Galéna
ošetřovatelka na klinice
ošetřovatelka na klinice
pacient na klinice
muž z baronovy suity
zfanatizovaná žena z davu
zfanatizovaná žena z davu
zfanatizovaný mladík z davu
zfanatizovaný muž z davu
Karel Čapek (Bílá nemoc – divadelní hra)
Willy Ströminger (fotograf)
Ludwig van Beethoven (Symfonie č. 9 d moll /1. věta/)
Orchestr F.O.K. (Music Conducted by Karel Ančerl)
bez exteriérů
Bílá nemoc
Bílá nemoc
The White Disease
film
featuretheatrical distribution
drama, anti-war, allegory, political, psychological
Czechoslovakia
1937
1937
start of filming 6 October 1937
end of filming 1 November 1937
date of censorship 12/1937 (kulturně-výchovný)
projection approval 7 March 1946 (konec povolení k promítání 7. 3. 1947)
premiere 21 December 1937 /unsuitable for youths/ (kino Alfa /3½ týdne/, Praha)
renewed premiere 5 April 1946 /suitable for youths/ (kino Moskva /4 týdny/, Praha)
renewed premiere 22 August 1958 /suitable for youths/ (kino Jalta, Praha)
renewed premiere 29 September 2016 /suitable for all ages without limit/
Moldavia (původní 1937), Státní půjčovna filmů (obnovená 1946), Ústřední půjčovna filmů (obnovená 1958), Národní filmový archiv (obnovená 2016)
feature film
105 min
3 110 meters
35mm, DCP 2-D, BRD
1:1,37
black & white
sound
Tobis – Klang
Czech
Czech
without subtitles
Czech
Festival: Festival Cannes 1939 Orléans
2019
Orléans / France
historické uznání
Festival: Festival restaurovaných a nalezených filmů s tematikou tolerance UNESCO Paříž
1995
Paříž / France
Národní filmový archiv
Only a handful of films which could be described as of the science fiction variety were made in Czechoslovakia prior to ...