Ghosts of the Dormer

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1987

Production year

1986

Premiere

1 January 1988

Runtime

79 min

Category

film

Genre

comedy, fairytale

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Strašidla z vikýře

Czech title

Strašidla z vikýře

English title

Ghosts of the Dormer

Working title

Strašidlo z vikýře

Summary

This penultimate film from director Radim Cvrček is a modern comedy fairytale that tells the story of the holiday visit of a young girl Tereza (Katka Šulajová) to the countryside home of her grandparents. Grandfather Ferdinand (Rudolf Hrušínský) is something of a Jack-of-all-trades. He crafts some wooden model ghosts for his granddaughter to play with in the garden. But one of the ghosts, Cvikýř, comes to life, and helps our heroes mete out some well-deserved justice to the nasty nouveau riche villager Napakunk (Josef Somr). Cvikýř also helps Tereza’s grandfather to fulfil one of his dreams – to fly in a hang-glider... This somewhat over-laboured 1987 story comes by way of screenwriter Eduard Pergner, who also penned the teenage comedies Discopříběh and Discopříběh 2 (Discostory, 1987, and Discostory No. 2, 1991) for director Jaroslav Soukup. The voice of the ghost Cvikýř is provided by noted actress Jiřina Bohdalová.

Synopsis

The village jack-of-all-trades, old man Ferdinand Malý, vainly keeps trying to fly from his roof to a pile of hay. He is firmly convinced that one should fly upwards at least once in a lifetime. But his old wife Malá has to tend to him after each attempt. It is the summer holidays and the old man escorts their granddaughter Terezka from the railway station. The old man refuses to carve a fat daughter Pepina for her father, the village parvenu Napakunk, claiming that he does not have a thick enough piece of wood. Napakunk cuts down the old man's linden tree and brings it in front of his cottage. The old man is outraged and carves a comical sculpture for Napakunk. Napakunk then gets his revenge by destroying all the bogeymen which the old man had ever carved for Terezka so that she would be frightened in the garden. Terezka manages to save only one bogeyman called Cvikýř, who comes to life during her lullaby. It has magical powers and moves Napakunk's plaster dogs onto the roof of his villa and then into his marriage beds. While repairing the black paint on the dogs, Napakunk empties the bucket with paint on Terezka's head and the blonde turns into a black-haired girl. Napakunk keeps stealing from people. He takes advantage of the driver Vilda's desire to catch a pike and throws a stick of dynamite into a pond. Although Vilda does not catch the pike, the two men get stuck in their car which sways over a steep slope. The little Míša runs for help. Napakunk is scared and promises to change for the better. The two men are saved with the help of the bogeyman Cvikýř, but the creature falls ill, exhausted by its good deed. Vilda brings some tubes to old man Malý to build a new hang glider. The old man indeed flies upwards with Cvikýř's help. Napakunk really reforms and Míša will probably have a new father – Vilda. Terezka must leave and vainly looks for Cvikýř. She is, however, saved from the guard on the train by somebody and her blond hair returns. Cvikýř is riding on the buffer of the last carriage.

Cast

Rudolf Hrušínský

děda-všeuměl Ferdinand Malý

Jana Štěpánková

babička Malá

Josef Somr

obchodník Napakunk

Michal Dočolomanský

řidič JZD Vilda

Katarína Šulajová

Terezka, vnučka Malých

Petr Žižka

kluk Míša

Jana Svobodová (2)

Pepina, Napakunkova dcera

Růžena Merunková

Napakunkova žena

Anna Šulajová

Voice by Miluše Šplechtová
Marie, Míšova matka

Vilma Jamnická

babička Koutná

Mária Hájková

sousedka

Jiří Maršálek

výpravčí

Zdeněk Vašek

Voice by Mirko Musil
průvodčí

Eva Henychová

dívka

Ivan Šándor

kluk

Dubbing

Jiřina Bohdalová

hlas strašidýlka Cvikýře

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Júlia Gregorová, Zdeněk Zydroň

Assistant Director

František Hlaváček

Continuity

Lenka Pešková

Screenstory

Eduard Pergner

Shooting Script

Radim Cvrček

Dramaturg

Milan Šimek

Director of Photography

Karel Kopecký

Second Unit Photography

Arne Parduba

Production Designer

Zdeněk Rozkopal

Assistent Production Designer

Jana Puškáčová

Set Designer

Ladislav Adam, Petr Dostál

Costume Designer

Šárka Váchová

Costumes

Ota Kvapil

Make-Up Artist

Ivo Strangmüller

Assistant Film Editor

Vlasta Malotová, Marie Vrlová

Sound Designer

Radomír Koutek

Assistant Sound Designer

Ladislav Procházka, Zdeněk Skaunic

Special Effects

Jiří Berger (pyrotechnik)

Production Manager

Jaromír Úlehla

Unit Production Manager

Eva Cvrčková, Alena Pekařová

Unit Production Manager

Dalimil Zedníček

Cooperation

Otto Kamenský (fotograf), JZD Podhájí v Jasenné

Music

Music Composed by

Ondřej Soukup

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by Štěpán Koníček), Studiový orchestr (Music Conducted by Štěpán Koníček)

Production info

Original Title

Strašidla z vikýře

Czech Title

Strašidla z vikýře

English Title

Ghosts of the Dormer

Working Title

Strašidlo z vikýře

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

comedy, fairytale

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1987

Production Year

1986

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 04/1984
technical Screenplay approved 1986
the first film copy approved 02/1987
projection approval 6 March 1987
withdrawal from distribution 31 July 1995

Premiere

premiere 1 January 1988 /suitable for youths/

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

79 min

Original length in metres

2 264 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech

Awards

Vítěz

Festival: 9. festival české a slovenské filmové veselohry Nové Město nad Metují

1987
Nové Město nad Metují / Czechoslovakia
Radim Cvrček