Octopuses from the Second Floor

Country

Czechoslovakia, Federal Republic of Germany

Copyright

1986

Production year

1984—1986

Premiere

1 July 1987

Runtime

92 min

Director

Jindřich Polák

Genre

children

Typology

featurelong

Original title

Chobotnice z II. patra

Czech title

Chobotnice z II. patra

English title

Octopuses from the Second Floor

Parallel Title

Die Tintentfische aus dem zweiten Stock / Die Kraken aus dem zweiten Stock

Working Title

Chobotnice I.

Summary

Director Jindřich Polák and screenwriter Ota Hofman first worked together on the children’s comedy Klaun Ferdinand a raketa (Clown Ferdinand and the Rocket, 1962) but only in 1969 did they form the creative partnership that, beginning with the television episode Pan Tau jde do školy (Mr Tau Goes to School, 1969), was to prove so dependable in creating films and television series for children and adolescents. Moreover, both Polák and Hofman knew how to accommodate the exacting requirements of foreign producers. The adventures of Pan Tau, the comic tales of the curious Lucie and the television series Návštěvníci (The Visitors, 1983) are testament to their ability to develop a sound idea to its full potential. The same could be said of their family comedy Chobotnice z II. Patra (Octopuses from the Second Floor, 1986) and its sequel Veselé Vánoce přejí chobotnice (Merry Christmas from the Octopuses!, 1987) – which should not be viewed separately. This Barrandov film studios production hit the cinemas as a cut version of a four-episode mini-series made for a German coproduction partner. The protagonists of this amusing story are the members of the Holan family: father, a lorry driver; mother, a singer in the opera choir and, more importantly, brother and sister Honzík and Eva. The family goes on holiday to Portugal, where unfortunately the local beach has been polluted by a wrecked oil tanker. The children find living green and blue substances on the beach which they fashion into two little octopuses – Blue and Green. After secretly returning to Prague with the Holans, the creatures go on to have further adventures in the quarter of Kampa where the family lives… Although this Polák and Hofman film centres on the animated characters of the title, it does not shun real-life issues such as the polluting of the natural environment and relationship woes between parents. A lighter social theme touched on by the film is the perceived obligation “to have enjoyed your holiday”, which the Holans dutifully fulfil for their gossiping neighbours. Žaneta Fuchsová and Milan Šimáček performed the children’s roles while their parents were played by Dagmar Veškrnová and Pavel Zedníček. František Filipovský lent his voice to Blue and Jiřina Bohdalová spoke for Green. A few years earlier Bohdalová had dubbed the voice of the green Plasticine figure Ferda in two of Polák’s TV adventures about a little girl called Lucie: Lucie, postrach ulice (Lucy, Terror of the Street, 1983) and ...a zase ta Lucie! (Lucy Again, 1983).

Synopsis

While returning from a business trip, the lorry driver, Honza Holan, is delayed by a blockade of striking farmers at the borders. He lives with his family – the opera chorus girl Andrea, their daughter Eva and seven-year old Honzík, in Prague on Kampa island, in the house above the Čertovka mill. They are preparing for a holiday at the seaside. Andrea gets angry about the delay, although the night before departure she and her children take part in filming of the opera, staging Faust and Margaret. The family travels with an old caravan through France and Spain. Reaching their destination in Portugal, they ignore the ban on entry and settle in at a beautiful and deserted beach. Bathing in the sea, they are unpleasantly surprised, as everything is replete with oil from a wrecked tanker and the sea washes up dead fish and octopuses. On the sea, there is group of researchers collecting samples with the aid of a bathyscaphe. Just before their return, they find a strange green and blue material that responds to the electric discharge of a hair dryer to bring it to life. The samples run from the can in front of the shocked assistants and jump into the sea. Due to a ticket, the Holans parents are taken by the police to a police station. The abandoned children find the matter and form octopuses from it. The Blue and Green communicate with the children and they come with them to Prague secretly. The octopuses learn to read, but all texts disappear immediately after their reading. The shocked mother throws them into the Devil's Stream mill. The octopuses cause lot of strange things in the surroundings. They can even stop the mill-wheel. At the end, they come back to the children, who promise them a holiday with their grandfather in the countryside, where the water is clean.

Note

Originally four part TV series, shot as a foreign order, edited by the film makers to two feature films: Octopuses from the Second Floor and Merry Christmas Wish You Octopuses. Sometimes the German distribution title is also used: Die Kraken aus dem zwiten Stock. The separate prts of the series have the following titles: 1. The Project IV, 2. Alarmstufe blau-grün (Flashes of Lightning above the Devil´s Stream), 3. Das süsse Salz (Half-and-half), 4. Die Tintenfische wünschen frohe Weihnachten (Merry Christmas Wish You the Green and the Blue).

Photos

Director

Jindřich Polák

Second Unit Director

Jiří Ostrý

Assistant Director

Petr Hartl

Script Supervisor

Pavla Marková

Set Designer

Bedřich Čermák (vedoucí výpravy), Rudolf Beneš, Jaroslav Lehman, Stanislav Rovný

Costume Designer

Šárka Hejnová

Costumes

Ludmila Ondráčková (vedoucí kostymérka), Iva Bártová, Dana Chaloupková, J. Kolomazníková

Make-Up Artist

Jiří Budín, Valerie Pitelková, Věra Podpěrová

Film Editor

Dalibor Lipský

Assistant Film Editor

Erika Vojáčková, Ruth Kubalíková

Sound Designer

Karel Jaroš

Animation

Jiří Vojta, Seishi Katto

Special Effects

Milan Nejedlý, Michael Poledník, Boris Masník, Jiří Rumler

Production Manager

Jan Šuster, Jaroslav Bouček

Unit Production Manager

Pavel Nový, Jan Peterka

Unit Production Manager

Emil Sirotek ml.

Cooperation

Jana Jiříčková (klapka), Michaela Kopřivová (klapka), František Remeš (vrchní osvětlovač), Jan Kuděla (fotograf), Filmové laboratoře Barrandov

Music

Music Composed by

Angelo Michajlov

Selected Music

Charles François Gounod (Faust a Markéta)

Music Performed by

FISYO, Orchestr Václava Kozla, Orchestr Národního divadla v Praze, Smíšený sbor Pavla Kühna

Music Conducted by

Mario Klemens (FISYO), Jan Štych (Orchestr Národního divadla v Praze), Pavel Kühn (Smíšený sbor Pavla Kühna)

Songs

První perný den, Faust a Markéta

Songwriter

Angelo Michajlov (První perný den), Charles François Gounod (Faust a Markéta)

Writer of Lyrics

Zdeněk Borovec (První perný den)

Singer

Magda Hrnčířová (První perný den), Jindřich Jindrák (Faust a Markéta), Antonín Švorc (Faust a Markéta)

Production info

Original Title

Chobotnice z II. patra

English Title

Octopuses from the Second Floor

Working Title

Chobotnice I.

Parallel Title

Die Tintentfische aus dem zweiten Stock / Die Kraken aus dem zweiten Stock

Typology

feature

Genre

children

Origin country

Czechoslovakia, Federal Republic of Germany

Copyright

1986

Production Year

1984—1986

Premiere

1 July 1987

Production

Filmové studio Barrandov, Filmexport Praha, Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln am Rhein, Bayerischer Rundfunk München, Südwestfunk Baden Baden, DRS Zürich, ORF Wien, Revcom Paris, RTP Portugal

Copyright Holders

Státní fond kinematografie

Distribution

Ústřední půjčovna filmů

Creative Group

4. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupina, Marcela Pittermannová (vedoucí 4. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupiny)

Octopuses from the Second Floor

Country

Copyright

Production year

Premiere

Runtime

Director

Category

Genre

Typology

Original title

Czech title

English title

Parallel Title

Working Title

Summary

Synopsis

Note

Photos

Cast

Markéta Krbušková

Jan Strupek

Jan Kadlec (2)

Simona Cendelínová

Vladivoj Jankovský

Martin Otava

Václav Burkert

Jan Kriesman

Oldřich Semerák

Alena Bachová

Libuše Drozdová

Alena Duchoslavová

Miroslav Hába

Vladimír Janoušek

František Klimeš

Tomáš Kopecký

Monika Krákorová

Eva Matějková (2)

Jindřich Mendl

Ladislava Mrzenová

Ellen Pánková

Oldřich Panovský

Martina Podéšťová

Milan Půlkrábek

Elena Rodičeva

Ivana Slavíková

Libuše Smrčková

Miroslav Svoboda (2)

Milada Sýkorová

Josef Šilhán (2)

Jan Švanda

Jaroslav Tlapák

Jana Vernerová

Egon Veverka

Lenka Zahutová

Hana Zlesáková

Milan Zvěřina

Dubbing

Crew and creators

Director

Second Unit Director

Assistant Director

Script Supervisor

Screenstory

Screenplay

Shooting Script

Script Editor

Camera

Second Unit Photography

Camera Operator

Production Designer

Assistent Production Designer

Art Director

Set Designer

Costume Designer

Costumes

Make-Up Artist

Film Editor

Assistant Film Editor

Sound Designer