One of the most popular titles in Václav Vorlíček’s extensive filmography remains Jak utopit dr. Mráčka aneb Konec vodníků v Čechách (How to Drown Dr Mráček or The End of Water Sprites in Bohemia), a 1974 fantasy comedy. As well as the director’s favourite collaborator Miloš Macourek, the author of the book on which it was based, Petr Markov also contributed to the screenplay. In the contemporary fairy tale the titular hero – the young lawyer Jindřich Mráček (Jaromír Hanzlík) – attempts conscientiously to find new, more dignified and healthy accommodation for a family living in a damp house on Prague’s Kampa. He has no idea that they are water sprites, who are not at all enthused by the idea of a dry prefab apartment building. The head of the family Mr. Wasserman (Miloš Kopecký) decides to get rid of the persistent official. This is complicated, however, by the romance growing between Jindřich and his niece Jana (Libuše Šafránková). An interesting aspect of the colourful story is the fact that there are ethnic and social differences within the water sprite community: Wasserman, his wife Matylda (Míla Myslíková) and their spoiled daughter Polly are “bourgeois” nobs but rely on the assistance of their poor, hard-working relatives the Vodičkovýs. Wasserman has further problems with a negative assessment of the standards of the moribund domestic water sprite community, even earning reprimands at a conference in Hamburg… After Dívka na koštěti (The Girl on the Broom, 1971) it was another genre picture in which the Vorlíček-Macourek double-act looked at a strongly idealised present through fairy tale creatures. Water sprites replace the staff at a school of wizardry but this time the narrative is based on the adversity that divides a “mixed” couple: a human young man and a “different” girl. Again the loss of magical powers plays a role. In order to remain in the human world, the young witch Saxana needed a draught of sage. The water sprite Jana must choose between two tried and tested options: sex or the ingestion or transfusion of (any non-sprite) blood. Despite the playful nature of this motif (which is also applied to West German youths meant to revive the moribund Czech water sprite population), it is typical of 1970s cinematography: “disenchantment” is after all also a curious form of normalisation.
In the Prague quarter Kampa the main Czech water sprite Wasserman lives with his wife Matylda and their spoiled daughter Polly. Three brothers called Vodička take care of their wealth by hard work - Bertík, the manager of boat livery, Karel, the life guard, and Alois, the diver with his daughter Jana. Matylda is not at all thankful, although the Vodičkas are her own brothers. The devoted Alois gets for his work at the Rescue Service a contract for a new flat. A young officer doctor of laws Mráček, who is supposed to put out the family and let the house pull down doesn't know that the wet residence suits the family tremendously. At a conference in Hamburg Wasserman receives a reprimand. Water sprites in Bohemia are dying out. They can loose their immortality and magic talents easily. It is enough to eat blood, to get a blood-transfusion, or to make love with a normal mortal. In this way the last Czech young water sprites and even the foreign suitors sent for Polly and Jana disappeared. Mráček insists on the vacation of the house and so the Vodičkas drown him. The unsuspecting Jana saves his life immediately by giving him the kiss of life. The couple starts to date together. Karel opposes his family and changes Matylda into a packet of flour and then gets rid of his immortality by a transfusion. Mráček's mother bakes a cherry soufflé from the found packet of flour. Jana saves the re-drowned Mráček again when she brings his soul in a mug to the mortuary. After various calamities the only water sprite is Wasserman and his Matylda risen in to giant size.
Actor Jan Libíček started to shoot the part of Alois, after his sudden death Zdeněk Řehoř took this part over.
Jana Vodičková
JUDr. Jindřich Mráček, právník
správce půjčovny loděk Bertík Vodička
hlavní český vodník Wasserman
plavčík Karel Vodička
potápěč Alois Vodička, otec Jany
docentka Mráčková, Jindřichova matka
Polly, Wassermanova dcera
vodník z řeky Inn Albert Bach
Matylda, Wassermanova žena
chirurg Honza, Jindřichův kamarád
vodník Thomas
vodník Rolf
ošetřovatelka Růženka, Karlova přítelkyně
Bachova žena
Krista, Janina kamarádka
Vlaďka, kamarádka Polly
zástupce JUDr. Mráčka Křeček
korektní úředník na kongresu
předseda kongresu vodníků
náměstek předsedy ONV
mistr
bufetář
vedoucí prodejny starožitností
poručík VB
muž v bílém plášti
vrátný na patologii
dáma v modrých plavkách
zřízenec pohřební služby
zřízenec pohřební služby Patočka
zpěvačka v baru
taxikář
vědec
Otík
muž na voru
listonoš Šmidra
sanitář
vodník z řeky Maas
kluk s potápěčskými brýlemi
zřízenec na patologii Mrázek
úřednice v inzerci
Jarda
prodavačka v masně
Pollin kamarád
starší muž na baru
důchodce
úspěšný vodník
cizí vodník
vodník z Lago Maggiore
záchranář
záchranář
naháč
naháč
skokan do vody
skokan do vody
plavec
plavec
plavec
plavec
kulturista
kulturista
tanečnice v baru
tanečnice v baru
tanečnice v baru
hudebník v baru
hudebník v baru
hudebník v baru
hudebník v baru
hudebník v baru
hlas taxikáře
Robert Vacík, Olga Hrčková
Bedřich Čermák, Jaromír Bieber, Miroslav Buberle
Adolf Born, Jaroslav Doubrava (animace)
Vlasta Mathauserová, Věra Winkelhöferová
Daniela Norová
Olga Hrčková, Alena Červená, Gabriela Globočníková, Magda Hájková, Ruth Čálková, Bohumil Nový
Vítězslav Hádl, Vítězslav Hádl (Pár svých duší mít – píseň)
FISYO, Orchestr Karla Vágnera
Štěpán Koníček (FISYO), Karel Vágner (Orchestr Karla Vágnera)
Znala panna pána, Pár svých duší mít
Vítězslav Hádl (Znala panna pána), Vítězslav Hádl (Pár svých duší mít)
Petr Markov (Znala panna pána), Petr Markov (Pár svých duší mít)
Václav Neckář (Znala panna pána), Helena Vondráčková (Znala panna pána), Valerie Čižmárová (Pár svých duší mít)
Jak utopit dr. Mráčka aneb Konec vodníků v Čechách
How to Drown Dr Mráček or The End of Water Sprites in Bohemia
Jak utopit dr. Mráčka
film
feature
comedy
Czechoslovakia
1974
1974
14 March 1975
long
96 min
Czech
Festival: 14. mezinárodní festival vědeckofantastických filmů Terst
1976
Terst / Italy
Exhibition: 4. mezinárodní přehlídka humoristických filmů La Coruña
1976
La Coruña / Spain
Event: Mezinárodní technická filmová soutěž při kongresu Mezinárodní unie filmových kritků Moskva
1976
Moska / Russia