This attempt at a crime feature set around the post-war black market was filmed in 1976 by director Ivo Toman. A duo of thieves robs a secret warehouse operated by the merchant Čačala, but are then forced to rid themselves of the loot. Inspector Koutouč, a former professor of commodity sciences, is hot on Čačala´s trail. The thieves try to blackmail their merchant victim, but the relentless Kotouč decides to expose the profiteer – and with him the right-wing politicians conspiring to thwart the inevitable victory of the communist left. This tendentious and ponderous feature benefits from a strong cast. Vlastimil Brodský plays the part of Kotouč; Slávka Budínová stars as the lover of one of the thieves. Josef Langmiler once again displays his talents for embodying dapper, sleazy villains, in this case playing trade ministry section chief Jůzl.
It is the hot summer of 1947. The post-war shortage of goods, both real and artificial, fuels profits on the black market. A robber called Dudy and his helper Pivo steal fabrics from a hidden warehouse of the wholesaler Čačala. They are transporting them at night in a lorry they have also stolen. After a minor accident, they abandon the lorry with the loot in the centre of Prague. In a nearby music-hall, operations manager Drdácká, Dudy's good-looking, but much older lover, attends to their wounds. Criminal investigator Kotouč, formerly a commodities expert, cannot understand why no one has come forth to claim the stolen goods. Dudy seizes the opportunity and starts blackmailing Čačala - the sentence for withholding goods is harsh. However, the wholesaler has an influential friend at the Ministry of Trade. Section Head Jůzl does his best to retrieve the fabrics for Čačala from the police depository and advises him to move his warehouse. Kotouč, meanwhile, is relentless and his patient investigation puts him on the track of theblack marketeers in fabrics, blackmailing as well as Jůzl's politically motivated support of the black market. Moving the warehouse is no good. Dudy goes on blackmailing Čačala, who dies of a heart attack with the telephone in his hand. When Drdácká finds out that her lover has cheated on her with a prostitute named Jiřina, she stops covering up for him. Jůzl is arrested. He and the other right-wing politicians have lost. The government turns down the help of the West - the Marshall Plan - and the Communist Left wins.
kriminální inspektor Kotouč
provozní varieté Jitka Drdácká
sekční šéf ministerstva vnitřního obchodu Jůzl
Šindelář zvaný Dudy, Jitčin přítel
velkoobchodník s textilem Václav Čačala
vrchní strážmistr Pexider
lupič Kotlán zvaný Pivo
příručí Milan
mladší strážmistr Bohumil Štoček
strážmistr Kuncíř
prostitutka Jiřina Matlochová
sekretářka Stáňa Beránková
Čačalova žena
předseda obchodní komory Zachystal
Blanka, Jůzlova dcera
kasař Hemala zvaný Hečky
kouzelník Alfonso
komisař Mertlík
strážmistr Válek
kasař Ouda
karbaník Suk
disponent Hanč
obchodník Josef Kuneš
majitelka módního salonu
bytná Roubalová
agent detektivní kanceláře Orion Ladislav Špidla
servírka Jitka
výčepní
zelinář Alois Brok
elegantní zákazník Matlochové
obchodník Jelínek zvaný Číla
řidič u Jůzla
rváč Šalanda
tanečnice
tanečnice
tanečnice
manekýna/tanečnice
manekýna
manekýna
kamelot
opilý muž
služba SNB
hráč karet
hráč karet
hráč karet
hráč karet
dáma
strážmistr Kunc
mladík
dívka
šmelinář
šmelinář
šmelinář
šmelinář
hráč kulečníku
hráč kulečníku
žokej
žokej
toiletářka
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
/jsou tady dva V. K./
lehká žena
lehká žena
sekretář majitelky salonu
hlas opilého muže
Josef Sandr
Josef Loučím, Magdalena Davidová
Josef Calta, Jaroslav Chytrý, Petr Matouš, Rudolf Beneš
Petr Drozda, Karel Engel, Jiří Fajt, Jiří Klenot, Miroslav Musil
Karel Škop, Vlasta Synkulová
Jaroslava Semrádová
plk. Jan Kovář , plk. Josef Janůrek
Stanislava Kadlecová, Miloš Schmiedberger (2), Magda Hájková, František Vokřál
Štěpán Koníček (FISYO)
Hřebík v botě
Jiří Baur (Hřebík v botě), Vlastimil Hála (Hřebík v botě)
Jaroslav Moravec (Hřebík v botě)
Jan Hammer (Hřebík v botě)
Josef Starosta
Smrt na černo
The Death on the Black Market
film
feature
crime, narrative
Czechoslovakia
1976
1976
13 May 1977
long
88 min
Czech