Night at Karlštejn

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1973

Production year

1973

Premiere

12 July 1974

Runtime

87 min

Director

Zdeněk Podskalský

Genre

musical

Typology

featurelong

Original title

Noc na Karlštejně

Czech title

Noc na Karlštejně

English title

Night at Karlštejn

Summary

Jaroslav Vrchlický’s stage comedy was first performed in May 1884. The light-hearted love story of a King and his Queen, which takes place in a castle devoted to spiritual contemplation, was first adapted for the silver screen by director Olaf Larus-Racek as a silent film in 1919, and later by František Filip, whose 1965 television drama starred Vladimír Ráž and Jiřina Bohdalová and benefited from pop hits revived with new lyrics. However, neither of the earlier adaptations can hold a candle to the musical film made in 1973 by director Zdeněk Podskalský, full of catchy tunes written by Karel Svoboda. In Podskalský's film, the late Middle Ages become a backdrop to two love stories: the married romance of Emperor Charles IV and his wife Elizabeth of Pomerania, and the burgeoning love of the burgrave’s niece Alena and Pešek, the royal cupbearer. Both ladies violate the King’s edict banning women from entering Karlštejn castle: the Empress comes in secret to be close to her beloved but distant husband; Alena sneaks in disguised as a guard in an attempt to win a bet with her father and marry the man she wants. A duo of meddlesome, nosy guests, the Cypriot king and the Duke of Bavaria, become witness to countless cross-dressing shenanigans. In the end, love triumphs over courtly etiquette. This playful historical comedy stars many famous actors of the time. Vlastimil Brodský and Jana Brejchová play the Emperor and Empress; Daniela Kolářová and Jaromír Hanzlík perform the parts of Alena and Pešek. Jaroslav Marvan plays the burgrave and singer Waldemar Matuška stars as the King of Cyprus. Actors also offer impressive singing performances, with the exception of Jana Brejchová, whose singing part was performed by Helena Vondráčková.

Synopsis

The young queen Eliška Pomořanská (Elizabeth of Pomerania) waits in vain for her husband Emperor Karel IV. (Charles IV) to join a celebration at the Prague Castle. The king is busy with state duties. Eliška at least looks forward to taking a journey with Karel to Karlštejn castle. To her great surprise, she learns that women are banned from Karlštejn. She finally goes to the small castle of Karlík to be closer to her husband. – At Karlštejn, everything is being prepared for the Emperor's arrival. The guests, the Cypriot king Petr and the Bavarian archduke Štěpán, are already there. Neither of the royal guests believes that the ban on female visitors is going to be strictly observed but even they do not suspect that the orders have already been broken. Not just one but two women have already found their way into Karlštejn. One is the Queen Eliška, and the other Alena, the burgrave's niece dressed as a pageboy who has laid a wager with her father that she will spend a night at the castle. Her fathers' blessing for her marriage to the royal tapster Pešek is to be her reward should she succeed. The archbishop Arnošt of Pardubice soon discovers Eliška is in the castle. To keep her presence secret, the queen appears in disguise as a night guard in the anteroom to the royal chamber. King Petr almost discovers her there, and the Emperor recognizes her beyond any doubt, but he gives no hint of it and after learning about the other girl he orders a search. Pešek tells the burgrave that Alena is in the castle. While everybody is searching for the two intruders, Arnošt confesses everything to the Emperor. The Emperor calls off the search. Alena must leave the castle without delay. In the resulting confusion, Arnošt leads Eliška out of the castle unnoticed and immediately afterwards announces her arrival. The Emperor welcomes her at the castle, which will from now on belong equally to her.

Photos

tanečnice

Jiří Vrzal

tanečník

Eva Zakouřilová

tanečnice

Petr Zámostný

tanečník

Josef Kovařík

trubač

Crew and creators

Based on

Jaroslav Vrchlický (Noc na Karlštejně – divadelní hra)

Screenplay

Zdeněk Podskalský

Shooting Script

Zdeněk Podskalský

Script Editor

Milena Honzíková, Věra Kalábová

Camera

Jaroslav Kučera

Second Unit Photography

Oldřich Hubáček

Camera Operator

Jiří Pospíšil

Production Designer

Boris Moravec

Set Designer

Dvořák Josef (výprava)

Costume Designer

Irena Greifová

Costumes

Božena Světlá

Make-Up Artist

Rudolf Buneš

Film Editor

Zdeněk Stehlík

Sound Designer

Miloslav Hůrka

Special Effects

Josef Staněk (2)

Production Manager

Josef Ouzký

Unit Production Manager

Jiří Mařas, Růžena Hulínská

Unit Production Manager

Vladimíra Kopecká

Consultant

Dobroslava Menclová, Jana Budíková, Ivan Chrz, František Michálek

Cooperation

Jiří Matolín, Karel Šebík

Music

Music Composed by

Karel Svoboda

Music Performed by

Orchestr Václava Zahradníka, FISYO

Music Conducted by

Václav Zahradník (Orchestr Václava Zahradníka), Štěpán Koníček (FISYO)

Songs

Jede král, Do věží, Hoja hoj!, Je v tom něčí dcera, Když mám tekutou révu, Ať jde o pannu nebo o paní, Ten, kdo nedumá, Kdypak tetřevi hon s lovci prohrají, Lásko má, já stůňu, Finále

Songwriter

Karel Svoboda (Jede král), Karel Svoboda (Do věží), Karel Svoboda (Hoja hoj!), Karel Svoboda (Je v tom něčí dcera), Karel Svoboda (Když mám tekutou révu), Karel Svoboda (Ať jde o pannu nebo o paní), Karel Svoboda (Ten, kdo nedumá), Karel Svoboda (Kdypak tetřevi hon s lovci prohrají), Karel Svoboda (Lásko má, já stůňu), Karel Svoboda (Finále)

Writer of Lyrics

Jiří Štaidl (Jede král), Jiří Štaidl (Do věží), Jiří Štaidl (Hoja hoj!), Jiří Štaidl (Je v tom něčí dcera), Jiří Štaidl (Když mám tekutou révu), Jiří Štaidl (Ať jde o pannu nebo o paní), Jiří Štaidl (Ten, kdo nedumá), Jiří Štaidl (Kdypak tetřevi hon s lovci prohrají), Jiří Štaidl (Lásko má, já stůňu), Jiří Štaidl (Finále)

Singer

Vokální soubor Lubomíra Pánka (Jede král), Waldemar Matuška (Do věží), Daniela Kolářová (Hoja hoj!), Jaromír Hanzlík (Je v tom něčí dcera), Waldemar Matuška (Je v tom něčí dcera), Miloš Kopecký (Je v tom něčí dcera), Jaroslav Marvan (Když mám tekutou révu), Waldemar Matuška (Když mám tekutou révu), Pavel Bartoň (Ať jde o pannu nebo o paní), Karel Effa (Ať jde o pannu nebo o paní), Eugen Jegorov (Ať jde o pannu nebo o paní), Jaroslav Marvan (Ať jde o pannu nebo o paní), Waldemar Matuška (Ať jde o pannu nebo o paní), Zdeněk Najman (Ať jde o pannu nebo o paní), Václav Štekl (Ať jde o pannu nebo o paní), Daniela Kolářová (Ten, kdo nedumá), Jaromír Hanzlík (Ten, kdo nedumá), Miloš Kopecký (Kdypak tetřevi hon s lovci prohrají), Waldemar Matuška (Kdypak tetřevi hon s lovci prohrají), Jana Brejchová [dab] (Lásko má, já stůňu), Helena Vondráčková (Lásko má, já stůňu), Helena Vondráčková (Finále), Waldemar Matuška (Finále), Vokální soubor Lubomíra Pánka (Finále)

Choreographer

Josef Koníček

Production info

Original Title

Noc na Karlštejně

English Title

Night at Karlštejn

Typology

feature

Genre

musical

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1973

Production Year

1973

Premiere

12 July 1974

Production

Filmové studio Barrandov

Copyright Holders

Státní fond kinematografie

Distribution

Ústřední půjčovna filmů

Creative Group

Miloš Brož

Sales

Národní filmový archiv, Obchodní oddělení

Technical info

Lenght

long

Runtime

87 min

Versions

Czech

Night at Karlštejn

Country

Copyright

Production year

Premiere

Runtime

Director

Category

Genre

Typology

Original title

Czech title

English title

Summary

Synopsis

Photos

Cast

Jana Sedlmajerová

Věra Kozlová

Jiří Hladký

Karel Bodnár

Vít Buček

Pavel Kos

Otto Ohnesorg

Antonín Pokorný

Milena Kaplická

Bernard Fürst

Růžena Smolíková

Josef Vlček (2)

Jan Janeček

Karel Medek

Jaroslav Palkoska

Oldřich Semerák

Ivan Chrz

Petr Lebeda

Marian Linder

Ivo Prokop

Miloslav Průša

Tomáš Svoboda (2)

Vladislav Drtina

Petr Gasseldorfer

Lubor Karger

Drahomíra Plasová

Zdeněk Boubelík

Eva Boubelíková

Josef Brozman

Josef Cmíral

Dana Daňková

Jaroslav Doleček (2)

Miroslav Fabiánek

Marta Fialová

Tomáš Hanták

Anna Hantáková

Jaroslav Hostaša

Marcela Hrušková

Jana Čižinská

Karel Klement

Jan Kolenatý

Elena Lindauerová

Stanislava Martínková

Elvíra Matoušková

Rudolf Mošna

Dagmar Najdenová

Tomáš Němeček

Zdeněk Pešek

Zbyněk Pohlídal

Helena Postránecká

Pavel Ruta

Bobina Staňková

Ivana Suchá

Jaroslav Šmída

Vladimír Štúr

Ladislav Tajovský

Jaroslava Vejmelková

Jiří Vrzal

Eva Zakouřilová

Petr Zámostný

Josef Kovařík

Crew and creators

Director