Just a Step from Murder to Lie
Typology
featureCzech title
Od vraždy jenom krok ke lžiRuntime
77Country
CzechoslovakiaCopyright
1982Production year
1982Premiere
01.07.1983Language version
CzechDirector
Petr TučekScreenplay
Josef ŠilhavýScreenstory
Josef ŠilhavýSummary
Director Petr Tuček is best known for his television series Slovácko sa nesúdí (Moravian Slovakia Doesn’t Judge, 1974) and an army comedy Copak je to za vojáka ... (Every Girl Loves a Soldier, 1987). In Tuček’s filmographyone also finds a criminal caper which delighted audiences in 1983, namely Od vraždy jenom krok ke lži (Just a Step from Murder to Lie, 1982). The protagonist is a young man named Michal Nožička (Michal Pešek), a cultural officer who is also working at a health spa. While simply seeking a letter of recommendation to get into an art academy, he becomes embroiled in bizarre events surrounding the supposed murder of his boss, Dr. Moulisová (Zora Božinová). Michal is subsequently accused of a crime due to what ultimately turns out to be a series of misunderstandings. At the centre of it all is Dr. Moulisová’s mysterious daughter, Květa (Dana Batulková), who – gun in hand – tries to seduce Michal. The film gave Batulková her first major acting role and also provided one of the most prominent parts of Pešek’s career.
Synopsis
The young spa cultural official Michal is admitted to the Faculty of Music with the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. The only thing he needs to begin after the summer holidays is his employer's recommendation. But it is not as easy as he thought to obtain it. On the train from Prague, he is followed by a girl who will later arrange countless embarrassing situations for him. These events discredit Michal in the eyes of his boss Moulisová and the recommendation is thus declined. The young man feverishly tries to find someone else to sign the recommendation or at least someone who would put in a good word for him. The next day, he is himself asked for help by the girl from the train. She claims to be a cleaning lady for Moulisová and needs him to carry a heavy box to the cellar for her. At a director's meeting, everybody present learns that the senior consultant Moulisová is missing. Michal offers to find her himself. He contacts the mysterious girl from the train, whose name is Květa. She is a medical student – and also Moulisová's daughter. Michal cannot find the consultant anywhere. Monika, who spends nights in Moulisová's villa, tells Michal that Květa certainly killed her mother. Květa is bothered that Monika talked to Michal, and reports her to the police. Monika in turn denounces Květa but it is eventually Michal who is arrested for complicity in the reported murder. He is, however, soon released. But he, too, begins to suspect Květa of her mother's assassination. Back at the villa, he wants to search the box which he helped Květa carry to the cellar. Květa surprises him with a rifle in her hands and cynically confesses to committing the murder. She forces Michal to follow her to the bedroom. Michal wants to make love to her and undresses. At that very moment, the senior consultant Moulisová returns to the villa. It turns out that she had to go to the Prague Medical Faculty in order to cover a troublesome incident caused by her daughter. She spots the naked young man and he runs away through the window. He, of course, arouses a scandal in the spa. But Květa convinces her mother that Michal is innocent of everything. The mother eventually signs his study recommendation and, with a hint of cynicism, even acknowledges him as her daughter's wooer.
Photos
Cast
Michal Pešek
kulturní referent Michal Nožička
Dana Batulková
medička Květa
Zora Božinová
primářka Moulisová, Květina matka
Oto Ševčík
psycholog Gorbay
Václav Švorc
ředitel lázní
Jan Skopeček
Michalův otec
Vlastimil Hašek
MUDr. Luděk Štrobach
Evelyna Steimarová
Jiřina, Štrobachova žena
Milan Klásek
strážmistr VB
Veronika Freimanová
zdravotní sestra
Michaela Dudová
Monika
Jaroslava Procházková
sekretářka Eliška
Dana Horčicová
dietní sestra
Jan Vlasák
inženýr Vanýsek
Jiří Bednář
lékař Dodo
Mirko Musil
zřízenec Knébl
Bronislav Poloczek
výpravčí
Oldřich Velen
vedoucí Ratiškovského dechového souboru
Viktor Nejedlý
ladič Viktor
Karel Brožek
vedoucí katedry
Dobroslav Čech
starý muž
Sagvan Tofi
cikán Kalmán, uklízeč a hudebník
Ladislav Goral
cikán Hlaváč
Stanislav Hájek
dirigent
Václav Kotva
průvodčí
Jan Cmíral
člen vedení lázní
Pavel Klůs
mladý lékař
Markéta Krbušková
Dodova milenka
Zdena Lukášová
postarší pacientka
Alena Karešová
zdravotní sestra
Edita Dindělová
slovenská pacientka
Milada Vnuková
lázeňská
Jiří Přichystal
hajný Kudrna
Václav Antoš
lékař
Jiří Čapka
lékař
Josef Šimon
lékař
Miloslav Homola
lázeňský pacient
Karel Fiala
ekonom
Boris Moravec
profesor
prof. Valentina Kameníková
ona sama, hudební pedagožka a klavíristka
Ludmila Ježová
Wanda Kuzynská
Petr Drozda
kaskadér
Antonín Hausknecht
kaskadér
Jiří Kalenský
kaskadér
Antonín Kramerius
kaskadér
Jindřich Sejk
kaskadér
Jaroslav Tomsa
kaskadér
Karel Bodnár
učitel
Dubbing
Zuzana Fišárková
hlas primářky Moulisové
Sylvia Turbová
hlas slovenské pacientky
Crew and creators
Director
Second Unit Director
Assistant Director
Otmar Průša, Zdenka Barochová
Screenstory
Screenplay
Shooting Script
Script Editor
Camera
Second Unit Photography
Camera Operator
Production Designer
Set Designer
Dvořák Josef (výprava), Zdena Suchomelová, Richard Staněk, Petr Průša
Make-Up Artist
Film Editor
Sound Designer
Production Manager
Unit Production Manager
Jiří Synek, Dagmar Pitráková, Milana Melcerová
Unit Production Manager
Dagmar Pitráková
Cooperation
Anna Mejtská, Věra Varadyová, Eliška Willigová, Jan Zázvorka ml., Zdeněk Dukát
Music
Music Composed by
Selected Music
Bohuslav Martinů (Koncert pro hoboj a orchestr), Robert Schumann (Variace), Johann Sebastian Bach (Koncert d moll pro housle, hoboj a smyčcový orchestr), Vilém Blodek (V studni)
Music Performed by
Music Conducted by
Mario Klemens (FISYO)
Songs
Má hvězda
Songwriter
Bedřich Smetana (Má hvězda)
Writer of Lyrics
Josef Václav Sládek (Má hvězda)
Singer
sbor (Má hvězda)
Production info
Original Title
Od vraždy jenom krok ke lži
English Title
Just a Step from Murder to Lie
Copyright
1982
Production Year
1982
Premiere
01.07.1983
Production
Copyright Holders
Distribution
Creative Group
Technical info
Format
35mm
Versions
Czech
Awards
Vítěz
Festival: 10. festival zdravotnických filmů Podbořany
1983
Podbořany / Czechoslovakia