The stories of Bohumil Hrabal were a touchstone for director Jiří Menzel. By the time he turned to Skřivánci na niti (Skylarks on the String, 1969) he had already adapted a number of short stories from the writer’s 1965 collection Inzerát na dům, ve kterém už nechci bydlet (An Advertisement for the House I No Longer Wish to Live in). After Smrt pana Baltazara (The Death of Mr Balthazar, 1965) – which served as a short film segment of the anthology feature Perličky na dně (Pearls of the Deep, 1965), a motion picture sometimes described as a manifesto of sorts for the 1960s Czechoslovak New Wave generation of directors – Menzel turned to the wartime tragicomedy Ostře sledované vlaky (Closely Watched Trains, 1966). Its success was underscored by a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Skylarks on the String was another winning collaboration between the highly regarded filmmaker and the much admired writer. The film is set in Kladno steelworks, a place where political offenders against the communist regime were sent for “temporary employment”. These might include insubordinate intellectuals, religious affiliates or small traders. The temporary workers in the film include a former state prosecutor (Leoš Suchařípa), a young Adventist named Pavel (Václav Neckář), his love and fellow inmate Jitka (Jitka Zelenohorská) and the barber Kudla (Ferdinand Krůta). All are watched over by the young guard Anděl (Jaroslav Satoranský) who has also been charged with keeping an eye on the “hill girls” – women who try to cross over the country’s mountainous western borders. Although the main protagonists are all in the same boat, friendship and mutual loyalty have their limitations when there is no chance of justice and no way to appeal for help. A fanatical leader of a communist youth organisation points out the “enemies of the regime” to visiting Pioneers (the socialists’ favoured term for “scouts) as if they are contagious exotic animals. Even though things can always get worse, life never ceases to be both strange and beautiful… Rather than being greeted by popular acclaim, plaudits from critics and awards from international film festivals, the film instead ended up in the infamous “censor’s vault”. There was little appetite for storylines exploring the theme of 1950s’ political persecution in a Czechoslovak film industry that was busy adapting itself to the demands of post-1968 “normalisation”. A scene featuring senile government minister Zdeněk Nejedlý (Vladimír Šmeral) was cut but it was still not enough to placate the censor. The film was only premiered after November 1989 and although it earned its creator a Golden Bear at the 1990 Berlin International Film Festival it was a belated satisfaction. After Skylarks on the String, Menzel was not permitted to make another film for five years. His next offering was a essentially a socialist propaganda piece about the builders of a better future, Kdo hledá zlaté dno (Who Looks for Gold, 1974).
The Nineteen-Fifties. Two groups of people work in the scrap-yard of the Kladno steelworks. They are female prisoners guarded by the supervisor Anděl and "volunteers", former small tradesmen, suspect intellectuals and members of the church. The women and girls, who have been imprisoned for trying to flee over the border, are working hard unloading and sorting iron scrap. The men are doing the same. They are the young Seventh Day Adventist Pavel, a Professor of Philosophy, the Barber Kudla, the Carpenter Drobeček and a former Public Prosecutor. During the shooting of an optimistic shot for a film journal the volunteer Milkman [Mlíkař] can no longer control himself and demands that the increased work norm be relaxed. Anděl is going to marry the beautiful gypsy Terezka, but he still has a long way to go winning the confidence of his shy bride. The police comes for Milkman. Tender relationships develop between the two groups of people, with Pavel falling in love with the prisoner Jitka. A fanatical female Czechoslovak Youth Movement leader shows children in the pioneer corps the enemies of the regime. The Professor asks where Milkman has been taken and is immediately arrested. Jitka and Pavel have their wedding. At the Local National Committee Jitka is represented by an old aunt, and is herself informed of her change of status by the prison director. A senile state official arrives at the workplace. Pavel asks him about the fate of Milkman and the Professor. Before he has been able to enjoy even a few moments of solitude with Jitka, Pavel is also arrested. Later, the released Jitka works in the canteen, waiting two years for her new husband to return.
The film was handed over to the Central Film Distributors on the 30th of November 1969, and because it was not approved for distribution, the première did not take place until 1990.
důvěrník
adventista Pavel Hvězdář, brigádník
vězeňkyně Jitka Hlaváčová,nevěsta
brigádník Václav zvaný Mlíkař
vězeňkyně-kopečkářka Lenka
brigádník zvaný Doktor, bývalý profesor filozofie a knihovník
brigádník Kudla, bývalý holič
brigádník Drobeček, bývalý truhlář
brigádník, bývalý prokurátor
závodní
Pavlova matka
starší příslušník SNB
velitel trestnice
vězeňkyně-kopečkářka Elza
strážný vězeňkyň Anděl
senilní hodnostář Zdeněk Nejedlý
Drobečková
strážný
umývačka nádobí
cikánka Terezka, Andělova novomanželka
svazačka doprovázející pionýry
brigádník-saxofonista
Thimingová, Pavlova teta
Kudlová, manželka bývalého holiče
filmový kameraman
filmový režisér
delegát ÚRO
trestankyně-kopečkářka
trestankyně-kopečkářka
trestankyně-kopečkářka
trestankyně-kopečkářka
trestankyně-kopečkářka
trestanec ve výtahu
funkcionář
funkcionář
brigádník
brigádník
brigádník
brigádník
řidič černého auta/vedoucí postřikovací party
blondýna
žena doprovázející hodnostáře
koupající se brigádník
příslušník SNB v civilu
oddávající úředník
úřednice
cikánský hudebník na svatbě
cikánský hudebník
cikánský hudebník
cikánský hudebník
cikánský hudebník
hudebník
strážná
tajný
dozorce
strážná
strážná
svlečená trestankyně
svlečená trestankyně
svlečená trestankyně
svlečená trestankyně
svlečená trestankyně
svlečená trestankyně
jásající dívka v davu
hlas ze závodního rozhlasu
Josef Sandr, Marie Zahradníková
Bohumil Hrabal (Inzerát na dům, ve kterém už nechci bydlet – povídky ze sbírky)
Rudolf Beneš, Václav Kozel, Vladimír Mácha
Karel Škop, Jaroslav Koucký
Taťána Bargárová
Štěpán Koníček (FISYO)
Budujeme /Teď když máme, co jsme chtěli/, Pro Jarmilku, Holubička, Noční motýl, Naše je heslo: Vždy buď připraven
Václav Dobiáš (Budujeme /Teď když máme, co jsme chtěli/), Karel Vacek (hudebník) (Pro Jarmilku), Jiří Šust (Holubička), Johann Strauss ml. (Noční motýl), S. Děškin (Naše je heslo: Vždy buď připraven)
Soňa Nová (Holubička), K. M. Walló (Noční motýl), Josef Urban (2) (Vždy buď připraven – píseň), Alexandr A. Žarov (Naše je heslo: Vždy buď připraven), Josef Urban (2) (Naše je heslo: Vždy buď připraven)
dětský sbor (Pro Jarmilku), dětský sbor (Holubička), dětský sbor (Naše je heslo: Vždy buď připraven), František Řehák (Noční motýl)
Skřivánci na niti
Larks on a String / Skylarks on the String
Skřivánek na nitích / Skřivánci na nitích
film
feature
comedy
Czechoslovakia
1969
1969
1 February 1990
Juráček – Kučera, Pavel Juráček, Jaroslav Kučera
long
89 min
Czech
Exhibition: Dny českého a slovenského filmu Bratislava
1990
Bratislava / Czechoslovakia
Jaromír Šofr
Festival: 40. mezinárodní filmový festival Berlín
1990
Západní Berlín / Federal Republic of Germany
Exhibition: Dny českého a slovenského filmu Bratislava
1990
Bratislava / Czechoslovakia
Festival: 4. festival českých a slovenských filmů FINÁLE Plzeň
1990
Plzeň / Czechoslovakia
Event: Cena československé filmové kritiky za nejlepší český a slovenský film roku 1989
1990
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Festival: 40. mezinárodní filmový festival Berlín
1990
Západní Berlín / Federal Republic of Germany