Virginity and Prison

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1969

Production year

1969

Premiere

16 January 1970

Runtime

87 min

Category

film

Genre

comedy

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Panenství a kriminál

Czech title

Panenství a kriminál

English title

Virginity and Prison

Summary

The 1969 tragicomedy Panenství a kriminál (Virginity and Prison) is popular actor and successful theatre director Václav Lohniský’s only feature film. Lohniský cast his acting colleague Vladimír Menšík in the leading role of the motion picture, based on a theme and screenplay presented by Rudolf Ráž. Menšík played the upright small-town pharmacist Souška, accused of raping his 16-year-old niece, Lidunka, with some gusto. Despite the assumptions of people in the town, it turns out that the comely Lidunka (Lucie Žulová) is no angel. She seduces the apprentice František (Jiří Vondráček) with whom she’s been flirting for some time, and she won’t make a move to rebut the accusations being made against Souška… Despite its “tangy” motif, this frolicsome comedy with a cynical twist offers quality genre entertainment supported by an excellent cast.

Synopsis

Drugstore manager Souška is a honourable citizen of the little town of Sedlolupy and is to be elected the chairman of the local National Committee. His niece Lidunka is celebrating her sixteenth birthday and forces her beloved uncle to take her with him to Prague. In Prague's famous Lesser Town Café [Malostranská kavárna], the girl finds out that the uncle has a lover in the city, and thus begins to blackmail him a little. Uncle Souška has to spend the evening with her in a nightclub with champagne. On their return late at night, Lidunka tries to seduce the uncle, but he manages to resist and drops the girl in front of her house. The slightly drunk girl, however, does not want to go home yet and thus accepts the invitation of Souška's apprentice František to look at the Moon with him from the attic window. Here, Lidunka provokes the youngster, who has been in love with her for a long time, to make love to her. At home, she suggests by her behaviour that she was violated. Her mother exasperatedly rouses both the authorities and the public opinion. Everybody thinks that the ruffian was Souška. Lidunka does not explain the situation and Souška is arrested and taken to jail. After their night of love, František makes a claim on Lidunka, but she does not want him. The desperate František then writes graffiti all over the little town, admitting his guilt on the loss of Lidunka's virginity. Souška is liberated and boisterously welcomed by his co-citizens. In the evening, his friends make him drunk in a pub and then almost by force push him to the barn where he is expected by no one else but Lidunka.

Cast

Vladimír Menšík

vedoucí drogerie Karel Souška

Lucie Žulová

Lidunka Kotrbcová, Souškova neteř

Jaroslava Adamová

Soušková, Karlova manželka

Růžena Lysenková

Jiřina Kotrbcová, matka Lidunky

Jiří Vondráček

prodavač František Mrkáček

Jaroslav Moučka

kočí Eda Škutina

Josef Hlinomaz

poručík VB Petříček

Karolina Slunéčková

Souškova milenka zvaná Bambulka

Josefa Pechlátová

Pecháčková

Pavla Maršálková

cukrářka Stříbrná

Karel Fiala

Velký muž

Karel Augusta

obhájce JUDr. Tomášek

Oldřich Velen

předseda soudu

Otakar Brousek

prokurátor

Ota Žebrák

vězeň Béďa

Ivo Gübel

vězeň Vokřál

Bedřich Prokoš

lékař na psychiatrii

Světla Svozilová

prodavačka v mlékárně

Jan Teplý

lékař na středisku

Michal Kazda

syn Souškových

Julius Albert (2)

syn Souškových

Karel Linc

host vinárny, svědek u soudu

Václav Mareš

traktorista

Ladislav Navrátil

plešatý muž v hospodě

Luděk Pilc

advokát

Antonín Soukup

Pecháček

Miloslav Svoboda

hostinský Pepíček

Václav Švec

vrchní v kavárně

Arnošt Faltýnek

přísedící

Zdeněk Kutil

bachař u soudu

Miloslav Šindler

bachař u soudu

Lubomír Bryg

číšník

Jaroslav Toms

příslušník SNB

Aleš Morávek

mladý lékař

O. Havelková

servírka

A. Pešek

číšník

J. Pleticha

barman

Klusáková

zdravotní sestra

Jozífková

zapisovatelka

Rudolf Hřebec

hudebník

František Kozohorský

hudebník

Petr Mandel

hudebník

Jaroslav Malý

hudebník

Ladislav Odcházel

hudebník

Ladislav Vondráček

hudebník

Josef Šebetka

hudebník

Josef Sládek (2)

hudebník

František Smejkal

hudebník

Alois Zouhar

hudebník

Karel Kos

hudebník

Jar. Drážďanský

hudebník

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Zdena Pavlátová

Continuity

Hana Nývltová

Screenstory

Rudolf Ráž

Director of Photography

Václav Hanuš

Second Unit Photography

Michal Kulič

Camera Operator

Jiří Pospíšil

Production Designer

Bohuslav Kulič

Assistent Production Designer

Věra Líznerová

Set Designer

Ivo Černý, Miloš Osvald, Jiří Rulík

Costume Designer

Irena Nývltová

Film Editor

Antonín Zelenka

Assistant Film Editor

Eliška Švarcová

Production Manager

Jaroslav Jílovec, Jana Koubová

Unit Production Manager

Milena Andrejsková, Jaroslav Koucký

Cooperation

Miroslav Pešan (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Jaromír Vomáčka

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by Štěpán Koníček)

Songs

Jé jé jé jé, co se děje

Singer Vladimír MenšíkVáclav MarešAntonín Soukup

My jsme děti dvacátého století

Singer mužský sbor

Šly panenky silnicí

Song Composer lidová píseň

Na tom pražském mostě

Song Composer lidová píseň

Production info

Original Title

Panenství a kriminál

Czech Title

Panenství a kriminál

English Title

Virginity and Prison

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

comedy

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1969

Production Year

1969

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 18 August 1968
technical Screenplay approved 12 March 1969
start of filming 4 May 1969
end of filming 3 July 1969
projection approval 3 October 1969
the first film copy approved 21 October 1969
withdrawal from distribution 1 April 1983

Premiere

premiere 16 January 1970 /unsuitable for youths/ (celostátní)
premiere 5 February 1970 /unsuitable for youths/ (kina Jalta /5 týdnů/ a Metro /3 týdny/, Praha)

Studio

Hostivař

Creative Group

Tvůrčí skupina Šmída – Daniel, František Daniel (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny), Bohumil Šmída (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

87 min

Original length in metres

2 454 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