The King of Kings

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1963

Production year

1962—1963

Premiere

12 July 1963

Runtime

91 min

Director

Martin Frič

Category

film

Genre

comedy

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Král Králů

Czech title

Král Králů

English title

The King of Kings

Synopsis

A solitary man riding a donkey in the middle of a desert comes across an old man lying unconscious in the shadow of a luxury car. The rider loads the man on the donkey and takes him to an oasis, thus saving his life. On the doctor's request, he leaves his name and address. Two years later, the assembler Lojza Králů has already returned to Prague, to the flat he shares with his forever drowsy friend Eda. Lojza receives an offer of a very cheap car by post. The next day, Lojza is not surprised to hear that a man in a car has come to look for him in the factory. But instead of Mr Pšenička with the old Prague car, Lojza sees an exotic looking Ismail el-Sharif with a large limousine. As the envoy of the Tamanian island kingdom, the man has brought official credentials from the recently deceased king of Tamania, the old man whose life Lojza had saved, which declare Lojza to be the king's successor. Lojza refuses the offer, but then learns that he could help his factory by securing a contract for pumping equipment, and that he could also be of assistance to this faraway country, as the king's relative prince Abdullah is selling the country's vast oil fields to the United Oil Company. Lojza's fiancée Lenka already sees herself as the queen. Lojza gets the approval of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to leave for Tamania, and even has a villa placed at his disposal. He is lured to come to a hotel where he is nearly killed by Poupard, a paid killer and Abdullah's secret agent. In the end Lojza doesn't go to the island. The people of Tamania have rebelled and declared their country a republic.

Note

The opening credits state the 1962 copyright. The shooting, however, took place between the 27th September 1962 and the 20th March 1963.

Cast

Jiří Sovák

montér Lojza Králů

Miloš Kopecký

vyslanec Izmail el Šarif ben Šerfi

Vlastimil Brodský

Eda Brabec, Lojzův spolubydlící

Jiřina Bohdalová

kadeřnice Lenka, Lojzova snoubenka

Valtr Taub

nájemný vrah Poupard

Jiří Němeček

ředitel podniku

Ilja Prachař

vedoucí osobního oddělení ministerstva zahraničních věcí Novák

Zdeněk Řehoř

úředník ministerstva zahraničních věcí Pantůček

Josef Kemr

Pšenička, majitel staré pragovky

Eduard Kohout

náměstek ministra zahraničních věcí

Jan Skopeček

komorník

Ota Motyčka

vrátný v továrně

Lubomír Kostelka

učitel řečí

Jitka Frantová

lehká dívka

Gustav Heverle

předseda dílenského výboru Smíšek

Ilona Kubásková

Voice by Věra Kalendová
babička s kozou

Emil Rohan

soudruh

František Vandas

soudruh

Jana Werichová

kadeřnice Stáňa

Eva Schoberová

sekretářka na ministerstvu zahraničních věcí

Miroslav Abrahám

strážmistr SNB

Vladimír Čech

referent osobního oddělení

František Miroslav Doubrava

vrátný v rozhlase

Zdeněk Jelínek

pohraničník

Mirko Musil

vedoucí provozu

Josef Příhoda

starší dělník

Helena Štvánová

ošetřovatelka

Josef Šulc

knihkupec

Ela Šilarová

listonoška

Václav Wasserman

muž v knihovně

E. Solničková

dáma

F. Franěk

listonoš

J. Tomášková

sekretářka

R. Holas

taneční mistr

Dubbing

Jiří Šrámek

hlas agenta skrytého na toaletách

Crew and creators

Director

Martin Frič

Second Unit Director

Václav Berdych

Assistant Director

Radim Cvrček, Mojmír Ticháček

Continuity

Helena Pokorná

Screenstory

Jiří Weiss

Screenplay

Jiří Mucha

Shooting Script

Martin Frič

Director of Photography

Václav Huňka

Second Unit Photography

Zdeněk Prchlík

Camera Operator

Vladimír Zajíc

Production Designer

Oldřich Bosák

Assistent Production Designer

Bohumil Nový

Set Designer

Josef Calta, Ludmila Sovová, Miloš Sršeň

Costume Designer

Ester Krumbachová

Film Editor

Jan Kohout

Assistant Film Editor

Jarmila Müllerová

Sound Designer

Josef Vlček

Special Effects

Trikový ateliér FSB

Production Manager

Jiří Pokorný

Unit Production Manager

Vlasta Synkulová, Jaroslav Jaroš

Unit Production Manager

Jaroslav Solnička

Cooperation

R. Černá (klapka)

Music

Music Composed by

Julius Kalaš

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)

Production info

Original Title

Král Králů

Czech Title

Král Králů

English Title

The King of Kings

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

comedy

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1963

Production Year

1962—1963

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 21 May 1962
technical Screenplay approved 20 August 1962
start of filming 27 September 1962
end of filming 20 March 1963
projection approval 25 April 1963
withdrawal from distribution 31 January 1975
withdrawal from distribution 31 December 1992

Premiere

preview 28 June 1963 (kino Sevastopol /1 týden/, Praha)
premiere 5 July 1963 /suitable for youths/ (kina Jalta /4 týdny/, Arbes /1 týden/, Dukla /1 týden/, Flora /1 týden/, Oko /1 týden/, Praha /1 týden/, Revoluce /1 týden/, Kyjev /1 týden od 12. 7./, Odboj /1 týden od 19. 7./, Radost /1 týden od 26. 7./ a Mír /1 týden od 2. 8./, Praha)
premiere 12 July 1963 /suitable for youths/ (celostátní)
renewed premiere 1 April 1987 /suitable for youths/

Copyright Holders

Národní filmový archiv

Studio

Barrandov

Distribution

Ústřední půjčovna filmů (původní 1963 a obnovená 1987)

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

91 min

Original length in metres

2 592 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