The Death of the Black King
Typology
featureCzech title
Smrt černého králeRuntime
111Country
CzechoslovakiaCopyright
1971Production year
1971Premiere
31.03.1972Language version
CzechDirector
Jiří SequensSummary
Following the TV series Hříšní lidé města pražského (The Sinful People of Prague, 1968), director Jiří Sequens and screenwriter Jiří Marek revisited the Prague of the 1930s to create four crime comedies. The plot of this 1971 film focuses on a murder investigation team led by executive Vacátko. Like the previous features Pěnička a Paraplíčko (Burglar and Umbrella, 1970), Partie Krásného dragouna (Game of a Handsome Dragoon, 1970) and Vražda v hotelu Excelsior (Murder in the Excelsior Hotel, 1971), Smrt černého krále (The Death of the Black King, 1971) draws on the book Panoptikum hříšných (The Freak Show of Sinners) by Jiří Marek. Vacátko and his colleagues, Bouše and Brůžek, investigate the deadly robbery of money collector Král, who is entangled in a case of embezzlement. Jaroslav Marva, Josef Bláha and Josef Vinklář portray the First Republic police investigators in this routine feature film. Vlastimil Brodský plays Král, while his real-life wife Jana Brejchová stars as the collector’s daughter Magda.
Synopsis
Good-looking Magda Králová meets Josef Kořínek, called Pépi, on the tram; she has no idea that Pépi, who purports to be a student, is in fact a pickpocket. Meanwhile, Magda's father, Ludvík Král, a collector for the Globus company, is having a drink with his friends at a garden restaurant, despite suffering from a severe pain in his stomach. His young boss, Vili Berger, a joint owner of Globus, seeks him out and gives him a cheque for 42 thousand crowns to be cashed. Vili, however, is not about to send thirty thousand of this to his father in Brno for a business transaction, but plans to elope to Vienna with his secretary Zuzanka and keep the extra money he has secretly added to the amount of the cheque. The next morning, Král receives another cheque from the company secretary Hrádek, this time for twenty thousand. Král collects the money at the bank and buys stationery and an envelope at the tobacconist's. In the evening, Hrádek reports to the police that Král is missing. Inspector Bouše finds the collector dead, tied up and without the money, on the bank of a brook. When interrogating Berger junior and Hrádek, police counsellor Vacátko finds out that they have probably attempted embezzlement, but Berger senior denies it, because the insurance company would not give him any compensation for the money. Gradually, Pépi, Magda's boyfriend Vycpálek and Král's friends become murder suspects, but there is no evidence. It is not until the funeral that an elderly country woman with a headscarf, Král's sister-in-law, turns up. The investigators find out that Král had sent the money to her and then pretended to have been murdered. In this way, the gravely ill Král wanted to provide for his daughter Magda and his wife. The first time the two cold and unfeeling women start crying is when they learn that they cannot keep the embezzled money.
Film online
Photos
Cast
Jaroslav Marvan
policejní rada Karel Vacátko
Josef Bláha
inspektor Josef Brůžek
Josef Vinklář
inspektor Josef Bouše
Vlastimil Brodský
inkasista Ludvík Král
Jana Brejchová
Magda, Králova dcera
Antonie Hegerliková
Králova žena
Josef Somr
podkoní Karel Vycpálek, Magdin druh
Josef Kemr
flétnista Franc Florián
Stanislav Fišer
kapsář Josef Kořínek zvaný Pépi
Valtr Taub
prokurista Hrádek
Jaroslav Moučka
zahradník Standa Kopečný
Nina Popelíková
teta z Brodu
Petr Čepek
Vili Berger
František Hanus
továrník Berger, Viliho otec
Carmen Mayerová
sekretářka Zuzana Vorlová
Zdeněk Dítě
policejní komisař ze Záběhlic
Ota Sklenčka
MUDr. Vejvoda
Jiří Smutný
strážník Hrůza
Jaroslav Mareš
výčepní Evžen
Antonín Jedlička
hudebník
Věra Nerušilová
zpěvačka
Vladimír Bičík
pokladník na nádraží
Stanislav Hájek
policajt
Eduard Pavlíček
policajt
Jindřich Panáček
fotograf
František Poupě
harmonikář
Josef Skrčený
trafikant
Miloš Willig
pokladník v bance
Václav Lohniský
kněz
Josef Koza
vrátný
Bohumil Koška
četník
Karel Braniš
hudebník
Antonín Brynda
hudebník
Václav Libich
hudebník
Josef Schwarz (2)
hudebník
Zuzana Gančevová
tanečnice
Karel Hovorka
tanečník
Milan Charvát
tanečník
Antonín Loužecký
tanečník
Olga Švejdarová
tanečnice
Eva Cízlová
tanečnice
Slávka Hamouzová
tanečnice
Vlastimila Vlková
žena na pohřbu
Crew and creators
Director
Second Unit Director
Assistant Director
Based on
Jiří Marek (Otec Goriot ze Záběhlic – povídka ze sbírky Panoptikum hříšných lidí)
Screenplay
Shooting Script
Script Editor
Camera
Second Unit Photography
Camera Operator
Luděk Kopal
Production Designer
Set Designer
Karel Kočí, Žák Jiří (2)
Costume Designer
Costumes
Make-Up Artist
Film Editor
Sound Designer
Production Manager
Unit Production Manager
Josef Hudlička, Karel Hyka
Unit Production Manager
Milena Andrejsková
Cooperation
Miloš Červinka, Jindřich Panáček, Hana Jozífková, Jana Suková
Music
Music Composed by
Selected Music
Carl Maria von Weber (Koncert pro klarinet a orchestr)
Music Performed by
Music Conducted by
František Belfín (FISYO)
Songs
Kočka ze Záběhlic, Zasviť mi ty, slunko zlaté /Vystěhovalec/, Zmáčkněte knoflíky perleťový
Songwriter
Zdeněk Liška (Kočka ze Záběhlic), Alois Jelen (Zasviť mi ty, slunko zlaté /Vystěhovalec/), Zdeněk Liška (Zmáčkněte knoflíky perleťový)
Writer of Lyrics
Vladimír Sís (Kočka ze Záběhlic), Karel Maria Drahotín Villani (Zasviť mi ty, slunko zlaté /Vystěhovalec/), Vladimír Sís (Zmáčkněte knoflíky perleťový)
Singer
Věra Nerušilová (Kočka ze Záběhlic), Věra Nerušilová (Zmáčkněte knoflíky perleťový)
Production info
Original Title
Smrt černého krále
English Title
The Death of the Black King
Working Title
Otec Goriot ze Záběhlic
Copyright
1971
Production Year
1971
Premiere
31.03.1972
Production
Copyright Holders
Distribution
Creative Group
Technical info
Format
Betacam, DVD
Versions
Czech