An Ardent Heart

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1962

Production year

1962

Premiere

8 March 1963

Runtime

100 min

Category

film

Genre

biography

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Horoucí srdce

Czech title

Horoucí srdce

English title

An Ardent Heart

Synopsis

During winter 1851, Josef Němec, the chief commissioner of the financial guard, leaves on business for Slovakia. His four children and his wife Božena, who refused to accompany him, come to say goodbye to him to the railway station. The marriage of the Němec family is unhappy. Božena is too emancipated and is not even close to the contemporary ideal of a married woman - a silent and obedient person. Božena Němcová is a writer and her friends are people hostile to the Austrian regime. A time of increasing political pressure develops and the Czech patriots are persecuted. The editor and pre-eminent Czech writer Karel Havlíček Borovský is arrested and deported to Brixen. Some people from Božena's circle become cautious, even cowardly. The burdensome financial situation forces Božena to leave and join her husband with the two younger children in May 1853. But there is again another whirligig of fights and Josef is moreover thrown out of the service due to his wife. Then the news about the serious illness of their son Hynek arrives from Prague; the boy, however, dies soon after his mother's arrival. The desperate Božena stays in Prague and, to comfort herself, begins to write about her childhood memories - the book which is later to become a classic of Czech literature, The Grandmother. The sick Havlíček returns to Prague, too, and dies of tuberculosis in July 1856. People gather in front of his house despite the police ban. The dauntless Božena Němcová arrives to lay a crown of thorns on Havlíček's coffin.

Cast

Jiřina Švorcová

spisovatelka Božena Němcová

Radovan Lukavský

Josef Němec, manžel Němcové

Vladimír Ráž

MUDr. Vilém Dušan Lambl

Blanka Bohdanová

Karolina Světlá vlastním jménem Johanka Rottová, provdaná Mužáková

Eduard Cupák

profesor Petr Mužák

Jana Gýrová

Žofie Rottová, Johančina sestra

Zdeněk Štěpánek

Jan Evangelista Purkyně

Jiří Holý

Karel Havlíček Borovský

Martin Růžek

MUDr. Václav Staněk

Karel Höger

profesor Jan Ignác Hanuš

Jarmila Smejkalová

Laura, Hanušova žena

Otakar Brousek

páter Václav Štulc

Miloš Nedbal

knihkupec Jan Jaroslav Pospíšil

Jiří Polák

Hynek, syn Němcových

František Hrdina

Karel, syn Němcových

Jitka Oubrechtová

Dora, dcera Němcových

Michal Koblic

Jarouš, syn Němcových

Karol Machata

Janko Kráľ

Luděk Munzar

Václav Čeněk Bendl

Marta Kučírková

Lotti, Staňkova žena

Bohuš Hradil

Němcův kolega

Miloš Willig

tajný policista

Vladimír Hlavatý

venkovan ve vlaku

Jiří Kostka

muž s úmrtním oznámením

Gabriela Palotášová

maďarská bytná

Milan Mach

muž u výlohy

Stanislav Kubiš

důstojník

Rudolf Bachlet

stařec-běženec

Ladislav Gzela

průvodčí

Miloslav Janovský

zdravící muž

Soňa Kompánková

maďarská služka

Josef Steigl

dělník

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Miroslav Kubišta

Shooting Script

Otakar Vávra

Director of Photography

Jaroslav Tuzar

Second Unit Photography

Adolf Hejzlar

Camera Operator

Vojtěch Kuthan

Production Designer

Jan Zázvorka

Assistent Production Designer

Bohumil Dudař

Set Designer

Karel Kracík, František Šaněk, Ladislav Winkelhöfer

Costume Designer

Karel Müller

Film Editor

Antonín Zelenka

Assistant Film Editor

Vilemína Binterová

Sound Designer

Emanuel Formánek, Bohumír Brunclík (zvukové efekty)

Production Manager

Ladislav Terš

Unit Production Manager

Vlastimil Maršálek, Ludmila Venclíková

Unit Production Manager

Jan Bočánek

Consultant

PhDr. Miloslav Novotný, Otakar Matoušek

Cooperation

Jindřich Panáček (fotograf), Helena Michlová

Music

Music Composed by

Jiří Srnka

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)

Production info

Original Title

Horoucí srdce

Czech Title

Horoucí srdce

English Title

An Ardent Heart

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

biography

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1962

Production Year

1962

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 20 December 1961
start of filming 16 April 1962
technical Screenplay approved 27 April 1962
end of filming 2 November 1962
projection approval 19 December 1962
withdrawal from distribution 30 June 1990

Premiere

premiere 8 March 1963 /suitable for youths/ (kino Blaník /3 týdny/, Praha)
premiere 8 March 1963 /suitable for youths/ (celostátní)

Copyright Holders

Národní filmový archiv

Studio

Barrandov

Creative Group

Tvůrčí skupina Feix – Brož, Miloš Brož (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny), Karel Feix (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

100 min

Original length in metres

2 858 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,66, 1:2,35

Colour

black & white

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech