Fear

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1963

Production year

1963

Premiere

3 April 1964

Runtime

95 min

Category

film

Genre

detective

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Strach

Czech title

Strach

English title

Fear

Synopsis

One night a car deliberately runs down a young man on a road by a small border town. The locals recognize the dead man as one of the students who were there on volunteer work some time before. Professor Hechtl of a Prague Graphic School then recognizes the man from a photograph of the corpse as a recent graduate called Coufalík. The police detectives, Major Kalaš and Lieutenant Varga can then get on the trail of the people with whom the victim was involved, especially at the photographic studio headed by Bohuslav Pacer. His son Bert was a fellow student of Coufalík's and the owner of the car that demonstrably ran over the young man. The detectives go to look for Bert at the Pacers' country cabin. The cabin has been robbed, and Bert's father, who clearly knows more than he is willing to tell, is taken to hospital with a heart attack. More detailed search reveals Bert's body, buried in the garden. According to the doctors, however, he died before Coufalík. Old Pacer, who is the major suspect, is allowed out of the hospital and immediately dies in his flat, where the gas has been left on and a confession to the murders is discovered in his handwriting. But the autopsy shows that he died of a heart attack and danger threatens Bert's girlfriend Věra, who owns a tape on which there is a recorded conversation between old Pacer and an unknown man about secret photographs. It is important evidence of the espionage committed by old Pacer, Professor Hechtl and the photographer Hadraba. They had been forced to spy by the war criminal Krüger, later the head of intelligence in West Germany, who has proof of their collaboration during the occupation. They were supposed to send him microphotographs of a military airfield. The inconvenient witnesses to the espionage had to be disposed of. Bert was murdered by Coufalík and was himself killed by Hechtl, who is finally convicted of the murder.

Cast

Radoslav Brzobohatý

nadporučík Varga

Bohuš Záhorský

vedoucí Fotografie Bohumil Pacer

Helga Čočková

Voice by Jiřina Bohdalová
Věra Klímová

Soběslav Sejk

příslušník VB Suchánek

Zdeněk Hodr

profesor Hechtl alias Horyna

Bohuš Hradil

Voice by Jaromír Spal
MUDr. Hanzl

Pavel Spálený

Voice by Zdeněk Braunschläger
nadporučík VB Ondráš

Vlastimil Fišar

předseda senátu

Jan Pohan

kapitán Pohraniční stráže

Miloš Willig

poručík VB Skála

Ladislav Potměšil

učeň zvaný Domovníček

Miroslav Čermák

laborant z mechanoskopie

Jarmila Smejkalová

účetní Fotografie Milnerová

Václav Lohniský

zástupce vedoucího Hadraba

Ladislav Trojan

podpraporčík VB Loubal

Jarmila Švabíková

Grossová, Coufalíkova bytná

Vlastimil Čaněk

řidič František

Miroslav Nohýnek

fotograf Jan Coufalík

Otto Šimánek

okrskář v Roudné

Vladimír Čech

vedoucí obchodního domu

Vladimír Huber

domovník u Pacera

Josef Mráz

nadstrážmistr VB

Dagmar Stránská

Voice by Gabriela Vránová
prodavačka, kamarádka Věry

Oldřich Velen

policejní lékař

Jiří Němeček

příslušník kontrarozvědky

Karel Černoch

řidič autobusu

Jan Víšek

odborník na mechanoskopii

Miroslav Český

laborant

Zdeněk Braunschläger

muž s dmuchavkou

Vladimír Foukal

příslušník VB

Jiří Želízko

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Milan Kadlec

Assistant Director

Aleš Dospiva

Continuity

Irena Klausová

Based on

Eduard Fiker (Kilometr 19 – román)

Director of Photography

Bedřich Baťka

Second Unit Photography

Rudolf Jokl, Stanislav Kautský

Camera Operator

Miroslav Sinkule

Production Designer

Karel Lier

Assistent Production Designer

Libuše Jahodová

Set Designer

Jiří Haller, Ladislav Rada, Ivo Sýkora

Costume Designer

Libuše Hozová

Assistant Film Editor

Diana Heringová

Sound Designer

Bedřich Poledník, Bohumír Brunclík (zvukové efekty)

Special Effects

Trikový ateliér FSB

Production Manager

Jiří Krejčí

Unit Production Manager

Vlasta Kolbasová, Josef Mojžíš

Unit Production Manager

Vít Pešina

Consultant

pplk. Bohuslav Němec, mjr. Vladimír Chylík, dr. Bohumil Bárta

Cooperation

Věra Houšková (klapka), Jaroslav Trousil (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Václav Lídl

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by Štěpán Koníček)

Production info

Original Title

Strach

Czech Title

Strach

English Title

Fear

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

detective

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1963

Production Year

1963

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 8 January 1963
technical Screenplay approved 23 April 1963
start of filming 11 June 1963
end of filming 7 October 1963
projection approval 9 December 1963

Premiere

preview 27 March 1964 (kino Sevastopol /1 týden/, Praha)
premiere 3 April 1964 /unsuitable for youths/ (kina Pasáž /4 týdny/, Mír /1 týden/, Praha /1 týden/, Flora /1 týden od 10. 4./ a Revoluce /1 týden od 21. 4./, Praha)
premiere 3 April 1964 /unsuitable for youths/ (celostátní)

Copyright Holders

Národní filmový archiv

Studio

Barrandov

Creative Group

Tvůrčí skupina Novotný – Kubala, Bedřich Kubala (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny), Ladislav Novotný (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

95 min

Original length in metres

2 716 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

black & white

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech