Doggy and the Four
Country
CzechoslovakiaCopyright
1954Production year
1954Premiere
15 April 1955Runtime
94 minDirector
Jiří WeissCategory
filmGenre
childrenTypology
featuretheatrical distributionlongOriginal title
Punťa a čtyřlístekCzech title
Punťa a čtyřlístekEnglish title
Doggy and the FourSummary
In 1955, director Jiří Weiss added this children’s tale to his thematically varied filmography. The screenplay by then budding children’s story writer Ota Hofman – based on his own story – presents the protagonist as third grade schoolboy Toník Burda (Aleš Košnar), who tries to improve his image in the eye of his friends with a stray fox terrier. The cute dog, which the boy calls Punťa, helps to gradually embroil our young protagonist in a web of lies – the only possible way out is to tell the truth. For this tale of morals, director Weiss offered 12-year-old Václav Postránecký his first major acting role, while also taking on the year older Vladimír Pucholt. Košnar continued to occasionally appear on screen right until the late 1970s. Forty-three-year-old Nataša Gollová also appears. She only turned up sporadically on screen during the 1950s in her otherwise expansive career.
Synopsis
Third-grader Toník Burda is not very good at football so it takes a lot of persuasion for his friends Pepík and Karel to get him on the team, at least as a substitute. A fox terrier runs up to Toník on the way to the football field. As a dog owner, he suddenly gains in importance to the boys and is accepted into the game. Karel and Pepík borrow the dog - Punťa as Toník calls him - but the dog runs away. The boys find the runaway in the arms of little Lidka who calls him Asťa and refuses to let them have him. The boys take the dog off her and, in the tussle, the dog's nametag is lost. Toník is ashamed to admit that the dog isn't his and thus he causes a lot of worry for himself. At home he tells the fib that he is to look after the dog for a time for his teacher's friend. The lies start accumulating and the problems grow. By chance Toník is witness to a case which his father, a lawyer, has taken on for a boy convicted of theft. Toník's bad conscience eventually gets the better of him and he goes to the police. In the meantime Punťa runs off to his mistress and everything is explained, both at school and at home. Toník's parents, seeing how sorry he is, buy him a puppy.
Photos
Cast
Josef Bek
advokát JUDr. František Burda
Jarmila Smejkalová
Helena, Burdova žena
Aleš Košnar
Toník, syn Burdových
Nataša Gollová
Marie Prouzová
Václav Postránecký
Karel, syn Prouzové
Ema Skálová
Karlova tetička Růžena
František Roland
rozzlobený penzista
Zdeněk Dítě
strážmistr SNB Šimek
Miroslav Koukal
Pepík, Šimkův syn
Radovan Lukavský
železničář Svoboda
Věra Srbková
Lidka Čermáková, majitelka Punti
Rudolf Deyl ml.
učitel Hořejší
Běla Jurdová
prodavačka v hračkářství
Jiří Vršťala
příslušník SNB
Miloš Vavruška
příslušník SNB
Jan Maška
příslušník SNB
Gustav Heverle
velitel SNB
Rudolf Princ
úředník na ONV
Rudolf Křivánek
příslušník SNB Bureš
Dáša Neblechová
maminka Čermáková
Libuše Matějová
úřednice
Karla Svobodová
Helenka, dcera Burdových
Jarmila Pucholtová
žákyně
Čestmír Studna
kluk
Věra Kleinhamplová
dívka
Ruppert Dubský
V. Bobková
J. Turek
J. Holub
J. Šubrt
Z. Chalupník
J. Zelenka
V. Mikulášková
pes Broček
foxteriér Punťa vlastním jménem Asťa
Crew and creators
Director
Second Unit Director
Assistant Director
Milada Řeháková, Alena Nová
Screenstory
Screenplay
Director of Photography
Second Unit Photography
Camera Operator
Production Designer
Set Designer
Stanislav Pavlík, Ladislav Winkelhöfer
Costume Designer
Costumes
Make-Up Artist
Film Editor
Assistant Film Editor
Sound Designer
Titles Designed by
Production Manager
Unit Production Manager
Consultant
Václav Chmelíř
Music
Music Composed by
Music Performed by
FISYO (Music Conducted by Milivoj Uzelac)
Songs
Když jsem husy pásala
Production info
Original Title
Punťa a čtyřlístek
Czech Title
Punťa a čtyřlístek
English Title
Doggy and the Four
Category
film
Typology
featuretheatrical distribution
Genre
children
Origin country
Czechoslovakia
Copyright
1954
Production Year
1954
Production specifications
start of filming 13 September 1954
the first film copy approved 20 December 1954
projection approval 04/1955
Premiere
premiere 15 April 1955 /suitable for youths/ (kina Moskva /6 týdnů/, Revoluce /1 týden od 29. 4./, Oko /1 týden od 6. 5./ a Arbes /1 týden od 13. 5./, Praha)
Production
Copyright Holders
Studio
Distribution
Technical info
Duration typology
feature film
Duration in minutes
94 min
Original length in metres
2 684 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
