Riddle

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1979

Production year

1979

Runtime

27 min

Director

Jan Ekl

Category

povídka

Genre

crime, short-story

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionshort

Original title

Hádanka

Czech title

Hádanka

English title

Riddle

povídkový film

Man in Labour

Synopsis

In a wine bar, Hanuš Král, an older fresh father celebrates with several colleagues from the office and their wives the birth of his son Přemysl. Normally a decent man can't cope with too much alcohol and as he is drunk he starts to insult the green-grocer Ptáčková sitting alone at the next table. He says that she gouges on the price of goods and she cheats small children and she gets rich on their account. The bar closes and Král as the last guest staggers out in the dark. He finds himself in an unknown yard somewhere in the Prague Lesser Town. In the morning the police - the captain Jeřábková and the lieutenant Volf wake him up at home. Mrs Ptáčková was murdered and in her flat were found Král's documents and after the search the police found her jewellery in his pocket. The alcohol deleted Král's memories. Despite of all evidence he does not seem to be the offender. He only recalls a weeping of a child and a chubby bum. He is released from the arrest. In the end the criminalists learn about a bank-book from which the real murderer draws money. He confesses that he invited the older lady to the wine bar and went to burgle her flat. But Mrs Ptáčková came back too early and so he killed her. The idea to put the blame on an unknown drunkard by setting up the evidence he got in the yard of the house. Král did not recognize the man who stole his documents at night, neither he understood that he the distinct chin of the murderer reminded him of a bum and that in the moment he heard a weeping child.

Cast

Vlastimil Hašek

úředník Hanuš Král

Jana Synková

Voice by Libuše Švormová
kapitánka VB Jeřábková

Jiří Lábus

nadporučík VB Arnošt Volf

Oldřich Vlach

Václav Křička

Hana Pastejříková

Marie Křičková

Miroslav Nohýnek

Karel Valenta

Bohumila Dolejšová

Pavlína Valentová

Gabriela Wilhelmová

Králova žena

Pavla Maršálková

zelinářka Evženie Ptáčková

Jana Altmannová

úřednice spořitelny

Lenka Machoninová

úřednice spořitelny

Dagmar Čárová

zapisovatelka

Milada Bednářová

mladá maminka

Petr Drozda

příslušník VB

Ivana Vítová

vedoucí spořitelny

Lída Vostrčilová

žena ve spořitelně

Renata Tůmová

prodavačka v kiosku

Crew and creators

Director

Jan Ekl

Second Unit Director

Martin Mahdal

Shooting Script

Jan Ekl

Director of Photography

Miloš Petrolín

Second Unit Photography

Ladislav Chroust

Camera Operator

Ivan Šimůnek

Production Designer

Jiří Matolín

Assistent Production Designer

Jozef Hrabušický

Set Designer

Karel Kracík, Miloš Sršeň, Dana Smržová, Milan Šefrna

Costume Designer

Jana Budíková

Film Editor

Petr Sitár

Assistant Film Editor

Růžena Hejsková, Jana Šimonová

Sound Designer

Adolf Nacházel

Production Manager

Karel Škop, Blažej Vráb

Unit Production Manager

Juraj Zach, Jiří Holeček, Renée Lavecká

Unit Production Manager

Boris Nakladov

Consultant

plk. Josef Janůrek

Cooperation

Z. Stančeková (klapka), Alena Červená (fotografka)

Music

Music Composed by

Jaromír Vogel

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín), skupina Jaromíra Vogela

Production info

Original Title

Hádanka

Czech Title

Hádanka

English Title

Riddle

Category

povídka

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

crime, short-story

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1979

Production Year

1979

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 10 May 1979
start of filming 28 May 1979
technical Screenplay approved 15 June 1979
end of filming 7 September 1979
projection approval 28 December 1979

Creative Group

Dramaturgická skupina Vladimíra Kaliny, Vladimír Kalina (vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

short film

Duration in minutes

27 min

Original length in metres

751 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