The fates of child acting stars are often associated with a rapid decline in popularity and descent into oblivion. Viktorie Čermáková made her debut in Ota Koval’s zany children’s comedy Lucie a zázraky (Lucy and Miracles) /1970/ at the age of four, vanishing from the big screen in 1973. However, she has made a full return to film in recent years as an already acclaimed theatre actress and director; the heroine of this modern fairy tale about a little girl from a care home whose toy dog comes to life and helps her find her mother is now starting out on a career as a respected artist. Lucy and Miracles also represented an independent, confident debut for director Koval, who in the following two decades concentrated almost exclusively on work for children and young people. (The chief exception that proves the rule was the biographical Julek /1979/ exploring the childhood and youth of communist journalist Julius Fučík). The screenwriter of Lucy and Miracles – which within the scope of a children’s film experiments with the legacy of silent comedies as well as the Czechoslovak New Wave – was the seasoned Ota Hofman. Hofman, who also wrote the children’s film Kočičí princ (Cat Prince) (1978) for Koval, produced other stories about the little girl Lucie (Lucie, postrach ulice [Lucy, Terror of the Street], …a zase ta Lucie! [Lucy Again] /both 1984/). However, these have nothing in common with the protagonist of Koval’s picture. The little, abandoned Lucie was in fact originally the heroine of a film that turns into reality thanks to the married couple Petra and Mikuláš. The sad, lonely child receives a toy from them – a little pink dog that caused Petra to lose her job. The dog, Pink Laurohardy, comes to life – and Lucie is fully convinced he will lead her to her new home. The pals run away and experience lots of adventures on the streets of Prague together. The little girl does find new parents, in the form of Mikuláš and Petra. The adult leads in the lively picture are astutely played by Jan Tříska and the singer Naďa Urbánková, who in the first half of the 1970s frequently drew on her previous acting experience in movies.
Petra has been fired from a toys' factory after manufacturing a pink puppy. She brings the toy with her to the suspended scaffolding where her husband Mikuláš is painting a large advertising panel. As she climbs, the scaffolding starts to swing and the onlookers are covered in a mix of paints. At the cinema is showing a film about little Lucy, a girl from an orphanage who is still searching for her mother. And then the film becomes reality. Mikuláš paints the orphanage hall and meets little Lucy. To cheer her up he gives her the pink puppy named Laurohardy the Pink. He wants to take her with him to meet Petra but the orphanage principal thwarts his plan. At night, the puppy comes alive and Lucy is certain that it will lead her to her mother. The children go to the Zoo and Lucy leaves her group. She has many adventures with her dog. Everybody goes looking for her but Lucy doesn't want to go back, she wants to find her mum at all costs. The children from the cinema help her escape from the police, especially the young boy called Mayer. Lucy finally reaches Mikuláš and Petra, whom she decides is her new mother, and lives with the couple happily in their little house. Her friends from the orphanage also find new parents.
Petra
malíř Mikuláš, Petřin muž
Lucie
převozník
vychovatelka v dětském domově
prodavačka v hračkářství
kontrolor v továrně na hračky
pokladník v továrně na hračky
pumpař
automobilista
řezník
rozčílený pán s buřinkou
pilot
fotograf
hlídač v zoo
strážník s píšťalkou
strážník na křižovatce
strážník s vyhláškou
strážník
strážník
strážník
strážník
strážník
Maličká
Mayer
Jožka
Robertek
Rudolfek
Magda
hlídač
hlídač
Mr. ZOO
cizí malíř
malá holka
hlas strážníka
Žofie Futerová, Irena Klausová
Josef Calta, Václav Šebek, Jiří Štípek
Vladimír Dvořák, Jiří Šimunek, Ladislav Vinklárek
Jaroslava Pražská
Danuše Kubátová, Jana Šimůnková, Gabriela Globočníková, Václav Hlávka
František Belfín (FISYO)
Když se náhodou, Když se ruka k ruce vine
Luboš Fišer (Když se náhodou)
Ota Hofman (Když se náhodou)
Naďa Urbánková (Když se náhodou), Jan Tříska (Když se náhodou), mužský sbor (Když se ruka k ruce vine)
Lucie a zázraky
Lucy and Miracles
film
feature
children, slapstick
Czechoslovakia
1970
1970
18 June 1971
long
76 min
Czech
Exhibition: 11. celostátní přehlídka československých filmů pro děti Gottwaldov
1971
Zlín / Czechoslovakia
Exhibition: 11. celostátní přehlídka československých filmů pro děti Gottwaldov
1971
Zlín / Czechoslovakia
Viktorie Čermáková