Lucy and Miracles

children, slapstick

Typology

feature

Czech title

Lucie a zázraky

Runtime

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1970

Production year

1970

Premiere

18.06.1971

Language version

Czech

Director

Ota Koval

Summary

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.

Synopsis

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.