The Hippo

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1973

Production year

1973

Premiere

29 March 1974

Runtime

95 min

Director

Karel Steklý

Genre

political, satire

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Hroch

Czech title

Hroch

English title

The Hippo

Summary

Hroch (The Hippo, 1973) is a noted example of a Czechoslovak filmmaker bending over backwards to show loyalty to the “normalisation” regime introduced after the Prague Spring events of 1968. Created by Karel Steklý in the dual role of director and screenwriter, this now legendary satire was intended to be an allegory of those occurrences. The focus of the narrative is a talking hippo, which is discovered in a local zoo by a nimble journalist. Once in the public sphere, the hippo is inveigled by deceitful and manipulative politicians who hope to use him for their own disgraceful ends. However, the villains are unaware that this unfortunate creature has merely swallowed whole a bank clerk named Bedřich Hroch (Oldo Hlaváček) who is enjoying his newfound popularity… This highly slanted film should now only be regarded as a study piece, at best offering insights into the mindset of its era. It was even regarded as dubious by contemporary “normalisers”, enough so that the film was removed from cinemas rather rapidly and was never allowed to appear on TV.

Synopsis

The bank officer Bedřich Hroch is sent by the bank director to the zoo, which asked an allocation of one and half kg of gold for a gold tooth for a hippo. During the check up of the hippo's teeth Bedřich is swallowed by the hippo. The man does not die in the hippo's guts and he chats quite happily with his frightened wife Dáša. Journalist Pip Karen, his friend is also present to the dialogue and he has immediately an idea how to use this special situation. He tells to the new minister Borovec and his opponent professor Fibinger that there is a hippo in the zoo which can speak. He also tells them how to use this situation for a political propaganda. His plan succeeds, people believe the advertising and collect gold for the hippo. Singer Soňa sings a song about the hippo. The song becomes immediately a hit. Dáša does not want to put up with the loss of her husband and she decides to make him free. Bedřich refuses, he is happy to be popular. He gets back to the normal life thanks to the cookies of teacher Plašilová, after which the hippo gets sick. It throws Bedřich out and the entire sensation is over. The meeting in front of the hippo pavilion where Borovec was supposed to speak disbands. Borovec, who has watched the entire event on TV, breaks the TV in a momentary fit of anger.

Film online

YouTube →

Photos

člen orchestru

Miloš Vychytil

člen orchestru

Vladimír Tišer

dubl za Hlaváčka

Petr Kučera

televizní hlasatel

Crew and creators

Director

Karel Steklý

Second Unit Director

Julius Matula

Assistant Director

Bohumil Koška, Dagmar Nováková

Set Designer

Jiří Čermák, Karel Lukáš, Karel Smrž

Costume Designer

Zdena Kadrnožková

Costumes

Ondrej Brezovský, A. Špačková

Make-Up Artist

Josef Lojík, Marie Hrdličková

Film Editor

Jan Kohout

Sound Designer

Jiří Hora, Antonín Jedlička (zvukové efekty)

Special Effects

Trikový ateliér FSB

Production Manager

Jiří Zika

Unit Production Manager

Karel Prchal, Vladimír Tišer

Unit Production Manager

Ivana Kuplerová

Cooperation

Ivana Nevolová, Miroslav Pešan, Anna Mejtská, Jan Vokr

Music

Music Composed by

Jaromír Klempíř

Selected Music

Antonín Dvořák (Rusalka /árie Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém/)

Music Performed by

Orchestr Václava Zahradníka (Music Conducted by Václav Zahradník),

Songs

Ďábel sám

Songwriter Jaromír Klempíř
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Aplt
Singer Helena Blehárová

Metafyzický kanárek

Songwriter Jaromír Klempíř
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Aplt
Singer Jiří Jelínek

Píseň hrocha /On je moje všecko/

Songwriter Jaromír Klempíř
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Aplt
Singer Helena Blehárová

Co ten ptáček, jarabáček

Songwriter František Kmoch

Production info

Original Title

Hroch

Czech Title

Hroch

English Title

The Hippo

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

political, satire

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1973

Production Year

1973

Production specifications

start of filming 20 February 1973
literary Screenplay approved 19 March 1973
technical Screenplay approved 26 April 1973
end of filming 5 November 1973
projection approval 12 November 1973

Premiere

premiere 29 March 1974

Production

Filmové studio Barrandov

Copyright Holders

Státní fond kinematografie

Distribution

Ústřední půjčovna filmů

Creative Group

Dramaturgická skupina Karla Copa, Karel Cop (vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny)

Sales

Národní filmový archiv, Obchodní oddělení

Technical info

Awards

Vítěz

Event: Prémie Českého literárního fondu za rok 1974

1975
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Karel Steklý

Vítěz

Event: Prémie Českého literárního fondu za rok 1974

1975
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Svatopluk Matyáš

Vítěz

Event: Prémie Českého literárního fondu za rok 1974

1975
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Eduard Dubský

Vítěz

Festival: 12. festival českých a slovenských filmů Nitra

1974
Nitra / Czechoslovakia
Karel Steklý

The Hippo

Country

Copyright

Production year

Premiere

Runtime

Director

Category

Genre

Typology

Original title

Czech title

English title

Summary

Synopsis

Film online

Photos

Cast

Josef Bádal

Martin Vrabec

Jiří Ondroušek

Dagmar Nováková

Vratislava Jelínková

Olga Fleischerová

Tomáš Hanták

Anna Hantáková

Marie Libigerová

Lubomír Mohyla

Běla Sobotková

Karel Bejlek

Vladimír Brož

Miloslav Bureš

Vít Clar

Petr Fleischer

Emanuel Hrdina

Vladimír Hruška

Viktor Hynčica

Mirko Krebs

Václav Matouš

Luboš Nývlt

Jan Pospíšil

Petr Smolík

Petr Šprunk

Jaroslav Tichý

Vlastimil Voňavka

Miloš Vychytil

Vladimír Tišer

Petr Kučera

Crew and creators

Director

Second Unit Director

Assistant Director

Screenstory

Screenplay

Shooting Script

Script Editor

Director of Photography

Second Unit Photography

Camera Operator

Production Designer

Art Director

Set Designer

Costume Designer

Costumes

Make-Up Artist

Film Editor

Sound Designer

Special Effects

Production Manager

Unit Production Manager

Unit Production Manager

Cooperation

Music

Music Composed by

Selected Music

Music Performed by

Songs

Ďábel sám

Metafyzický kanárek

Píseň hrocha /On je moje všecko/