Girls from a Porcelain Factory

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1974

Production year

1974

Premiere

11 April 1975

Runtime

98 min

Director

Juraj Herz

Category

film

Genre

comedy

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Holky z porcelánu

Czech title

Holky z porcelánu

English title

Girls from a Porcelain Factory

Summary

Dagmar Veškrnová’s first film role was as one of the heroines of Juraj Herz’s comedy Holky z porcelánu (Girls from a Porcelain Factory). In this movie made in 1974, the then 21-year-old student from Brno’s JAMU academy played Dana, a zany girl who romantically hopes to find a suitable partner – just like her colleagues from the uninspiring warehouse of a large porcelain factory. Whereas 15-year-old Maruška (Lenka Kořínková) only timidly dreams of love, Dana finally lands a shy plumber played by Jan Hartl. The more experienced Věra (Eva Čeřovská) is due to be married, while Jířa (Jelena Šebestová) already has a child by an unknown father. And Helena (Marta Rašlová) only belatedly finds out that the attractive guitarist, Petr, is actually a milling-machine operator and the son of her boss (Míla Myslíková) to boot… A woman’s view of the world predominates in the story, which is ensured by the debutante screenwriter Jaromíra Kolárová (who also wrote a biopic for Juraj Herz in 1985 about the communist journalist Jožka Jabůrková Zastihla mě noc (Caught by Night)). In the warehouse, where an inventory is underway before the arrival of a new boss, men are in a minority – whether it be the new manager Jarolím (Josef Langmiler) or the pedantic head of the inventory committee Mr Rybička (Mnislav Hofmann, who – like Veškrnová – also appeared in Herz’s detective story Holka na zabití (A Girl to Be Killed) a year later). For Juraj Herz, Girls from a Porcelain Factory was the first film he shot under the restrictive conditions for cinema that prevailed during the “normalisation” era of Soviet entrenchment that followed the Warsaw Pact invasion. For the first time, this leading auteur of the Czechoslovak New Wave tried – with immediate success – to shoot a light, low-key story complemented by none too functional song numbers, which was in direct contrast to his previous highly stylised, mostly dramatic material. The power of the acting performances is helped by the combination of young, virtual unknowns and experienced acting legends. One of the members of the inventory committee was also played by the actor and future director Jiří Smyczek.

Synopsis

The fifteen year old Maruška starts as a new staff in the porcelain warehouse. For the boss Světla Janíková it is the last straw. She asked to extend her staff consisting of four girls and a retired lady by a man, not a child. The kind and ever fussy Světla, battling in vain with overweight decides to leave her position and to take another one in the office. As soon as she finds out that the position will be taken by Arnošt Jarolím, she insists on a hand over inventory. The girls work also on weekends but this complicates their private life. Věra has to postpone her wedding with Stáňa. The single mother Jířa has sometimes problems with baby-sitting of her Jiřinka. She does not know anything about the father of her child - it was her first and last date and she was shy and looked at the man's shoes and tie only. The attractive Helena wants to be a singer and surrenders to the seductions of the guitar-player Petr, who promises her that she will sing in his group. The crazy Dana wants a partner so much that she lays down a shy plumber. The head of the inventory commission, a tiny man Rybička insists on counting of hundred thousands plates and the action takes time. Helena is pregnant and only later she finds out that Petr is in fact a miller and a beloved son of Světla. The new boss Jarolím is on the top of it Světla's ex-husband and she has not forgiven him yet his old adultery. Světla decides to stay in her function. Rybička together with Janinka are walled up by piles of plates and from this delicate situation they get helped by Dana. In her rashness she does not manage her dodgem and she drives in the plates in full speed.

Film online

Cast

Míla Myslíková

vedoucí skladu Světla Janíková

Marie Rosůlková

důchodkyně balička Janinka

Lenka Kořínková

dělnice Maruška Koudelková

Marta Rašlová

skladnice Helena

Dagmar Veškrnová

skladnice Dana

Jelena Šebestová

skladnice Jířa

Eva Čeřovská

skladnice Věra

Josef Langmiler

nový vedoucí skladu Arnošt Jarolím, Světlin bývalý manžel

Josef Větrovec

provozář Šantala

Mnislav Hofmann

předseda inventarizační komise Rybička

Vladimír Hlavatý

člen inventarizační komise Ctirad Andrejs

Gabriela Wilhelmová

členka inventarizační komise Urbanová

Karel Smyczek

sortimentář Kubík, člen inventarizační komise

Jiří Krampol

šofér Stáňa, Věřin ženich

Jan Hartl

instalatér Tomášek

Zdeněk Loveček

frézař Petr, Světlin syn

Bohumil Šmída

cizí pán se psem

Karel Augusta

požárník

Luděk Svoboda

příslušník VB

Jiří Mikota

nadporučík VB, náčelník oddělení

Edita Dindělová

instalatérka

Josef Koza

železničář

Crew and creators

Director

Juraj Herz

Second Unit Director

Zeno Dostál

Assistant Director

Milena Kropáčková

Continuity

Irena Klausová

Director of Photography

Andrej Barla

Camera Operator

Pavel Dosoudil, Václav Zajíček

Production Designer

Boris Moravec

Assistent Production Designer

Vladimír Labský

Set Designer

Karel Kracík, Dana Smržová, Zdenka Neškrdová

Costume Designer

Irena Greifová

Assistant Film Editor

Anna Mejtská, Erika Vojáčková

Sound Designer

František Černý

Production Manager

Karel Kochman

Unit Production Manager

Ladislav Beneš, Petra Havlínová

Unit Production Manager

Pavel Mangl

Cooperation

Ivana Švejdová (klapka), I. Křepelová (klapka), Bohumil Ženíšek (vrchní osvětlovač), Karel Ješátko (fotograf), Karlovarský porcelán n. p., závody Dubí, Duchcov a Klášterec nad Ohří, J. Kubišta, V. Vávra

Music

Music Composed by

Petr Hapka

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)

Songs

Viděla jsem já rybičku

Song Composer lidová píseň
Singer Dagmar VeškrnováMarta RašlováMarie Rosůlková

Proč nejsem květina

Song Composer Petr Hapka
Writer of Lyrics Zdeněk Rytíř
Singer Lenka Kořínková

Je to žena

Song Composer Petr Hapka
Writer of Lyrics Zdeněk Rytíř
Singer Jiří Korn

Svatební cesta kolem světa

Song Composer Petr Hapka
Writer of Lyrics Zdeněk Rytíř
Singer Jana Robbová

Mám mnoho nápadníkov

Song Composer Petr Hapka
Writer of Lyrics Zdeněk Rytíř
Singer Marta Rašlová [dab]Valerie Čižmárová

My jsme holky z porcelánu

Song Composer Petr Hapka
Writer of Lyrics Zdeněk Rytíř
Singer Dagmar VeškrnováLenka KořínkováMarta RašlováJelena Šebestová

Production info

Original Title

Holky z porcelánu

Czech Title

Holky z porcelánu

English Title

Girls from a Porcelain Factory

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

comedy

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1974

Production Year

1974

Premiere

festival premiere 27 February 1975 (13. festival českých a slovenských filmů Praha /kino Světozor, Praha/)
premiere 10 April 1975 /suitable for youths/ (kino Sofia, Praha)
premiere 11 April 1975 /suitable for youths/ (celostátní)

Creative Group

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

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

98 min

Original length in metres

2 737 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,66

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech

Awards

Vítěz

Festival: 13. filmový festival mladých Trutnov

1975
Trutnov / Czechoslovakia
Dagmar Veškrnová-Havlová

Vítěz

Festival: 13. filmový festival mladých Trutnov

1975
Trutnov / Czechoslovakia
Juraj Herz