Filmmakers have been drawn to the short stories and novellas of Josef Nesvadba on numerous occasions. However, the sci-fi film Kam zmizel kurýr (The Courier Who Vanished, 1981), directed by Otakar Fuka, was made according to an original script penned by the popular writer. The courier of the film’s title is an alien who crash landed on Earth in the 17th century and has since been secretly manipulating human history. The protagonist is an extra-terrestrial envoy who arrives in Prague disguised as “Jones”, a Czech language student from Australia. The envoy’s real task is to find the alien courier and bring him back home. Young sci-fi writer Marcela becomes a witness to Jones’s quest... The film’s lead roles were played by Jan Kanyza and Eva Jakoubková. In one absorbing sequence, Jones uncovers “evidence” of the courier’s existence in, among other things, earlier Czech sci-fi films. Kam zmizel kurýr thus contains clips from Muž z prvního století (The Man from the First Century, 1961), Ikarie XB 1 (Icarus XB 1, 1963), Vynález zkázy (An Invention for Destruction, 1958), Baron Prášil (Baron Münchausen, 1961), as well as Fuka’s own Akce Bororo (Bororo Operation, 1972).
The film includes parts of Czech sci-fi films Baron Münchhausen (1961, dir. Karel Zeman), An Invention for Destruction (1958, dir. Karel Zeman), The Man from the First Century (1961, dir. Oldřich Lipský), Icarus XB-1 (dir. Jindřich Polák), Bororo Operation (1972, dir. Otakar Fuka).
Michael Allan Jones
novinářka Marcela Vosecká
docent Štafa
recepční Jandák
archivář Diviš
profesor Coutou
Láska
Svačina, znalec díla Julese Vernea
Michele
Jeanne
Voice by Bořivoj Navrátil
kurýr
cizinec
vrátná v knihovně
divák
taxikář
Bedřich Čermák, Josef Müller, Václav Kozel
Karel Prchal, Vladimír Tišer
Václav Veruněk
Vítězslava Marčíková (klapka), Jan Kuděla (fotograf)
FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)
Kam zmizel kurýr
Kam zmizel kurýr
The Courrier Who Vanished
Kurýr ze souhvězdí Pegas
film
featuretheatrical distribution
sci-fi
Czechoslovakia
1981
1980—1981
literary Screenplay approved 31 October 1980
start of filming 6 December 1980
technical Screenplay approved 31 December 1980
end of filming 19 March 1981
projection approval 15 April 1981
premiere 16 October 1981 /suitable for youths/
Dramaturgická skupina Drahoslava Makovičky, Drahoslav Makovička (vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny)
feature film
86 min
2 358 meters
16mm, 35mm
1:1,37
colour
sound
mono
Czech
Czech, French
without subtitles
Czech