The Situation of Wolf

Country

Czech Republic

Copyright

1994

Production year

1994—1995

Premiere

neproběhla

Runtime

30 min

Category

film

Genre

adventure

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionshort

Film state

partially realised project

Original title

Situace vlka

Second title

Vlčí soud

Czech title

Situace vlka

English title

The Situation of Wolf

English second title

The Wolf Court

Summary

Unfinished film.

Synopsis

October and November of 1900, the Canadian mountains during the time of the "gold rush." Sergeant Eyot of the mounted police is surprised on the plain by the woodsman Smart, working for the gold prospectors Dyndy, Ježíšek, and Plonek, who left their comfortable city life in America and set out north in search of wealth. Among the gold prospectors is also Plonek's wife Anna. Smart is entitled to a one-fifth share of the extracted gold. Smart and Eyot realize that the cold winter is approaching soon. They warn the prospectors to leave the cabin as quickly as possible and head to the city of Mortmain, four hundred miles away, a journey that will take them twenty days. The prospectors, however, do not have sufficient supplies and plan to leave in three days. Eyot stops at an old lumberjack Kotowski's cabin in Krejcarova Hollow, ninety miles from the gold prospectors' camp, during his journey to Mortmain. A snowstorm traps the prospectors, Anna, and Smart in the cabin. They have little supplies, some of which have been eaten by a bear. After a few days, Smart resorts to a desperate act: to make their supplies last longer, he kills Ježíšek and Plonek. He plans to kill Anna and Dyndy as well, but they overpower him. Anna tries to kill the murderer, but Dyndy does not allow it. They decide to go to Kotowski to pass a judgement. Dyndy buries Ježíšek and Plonek and sets out with Anna, tied up Smart, and five bags of gold to Krejcarova Hollow. There, they find Kotowski, his wife Elsie, and their youngest seven-year-old son Nizy. Kotowski, whose leg was crushed by a fallen tree, disagrees with Smart's action but understands the motivations that led him to this step. He cannot pass judgement upon him. Twenty-five years in this region have taught him to understand nature and its cruel laws. Therefore, Dyndy decides to take Smart to trial in Mortmain. He takes sleds and Kotowski's dogs for the journey. They are joined by Nizy, whom they are to deliver safely to his older sister Belinda in Mortmain. On the dangerous journey, they must contend with freezing weather, snowstorms, treacherous terrain, and hungry wolves. One night, they plan to spend the night on the Moon Plain. The dogs are frightened by a snow hare and disappear into the darkness still with Anna and Nizy on the sled. Dyndy and Smart later find the unharmed Nizy, who fell out of the sled. At night, the dogs return without Anna. In the morning, Dyndy, Nizy, and Smart find Anna dead on the snowy plain. Eventually they decide to bury her and continue their journey. The boy receives one bag of gold. Smart tries to escape, but Dyndy catches up with him and brings him back. To keep an eye on him, Dyndy decides to stay awake at night. After several days without sleep, he is so exhausted that shortly before reaching their destination, he decides to deliver justice to Smart himself. The partially reconciled murderer wishes to be shot, but Dyndy wants to hang him. In the morning, while Nizy is still asleep, the Dyndy takes Smart into the woods and hangs him after his last futile attempt to free himself. Dyndy and the unsuspecting Nizy set off to Mortmain, singing songs. They have only a day's journey left. (Based on the original script)

Note

The film, based on Pavel Juráček's screenplay from 1972, began to be shot in the autumn of 1994 in the Zlín studios, in the Krkonoše Mountains and the High Tatras. Due to bad weather, the filming was moved to Canada. Technical issues also forced a pause in filming here. In the late 1990’s, director and cinematographer F. A. Brabec returned to the project, revised the script with Jan Němec, and slightly expanded the ending (the filming was supposed to take place in the Austrian Tyrol), but he also failed to realize the project. Ten years after the start of filming, the project was completely terminated. At the beginning of the project and at the start of filming, director Jan Schmidt considered casting Max von Sydow in the role of Frank Kotowski (eventually played by František Derfler). Schmidt donated the filmed material to the National Film Archive in October 2004.

Cast

Juraj Kukura

lesák Knut Säinas zvaný Smart

Ondřej Vetchý

zlatokop Patrick McGill zvaný Dyndy

Tereza Brodská

zlatokopka Anna Du Maurier

Jana Brejchová

Elsie Kotowská

František Derfler

starý lovec Frank Kotowski, Elsiin manžel

Jiří Schmitzer

seržant kanadské jízdní policie James Eyot

Michal Suchánek

zlatokop Tonny Petroff zvaný Ježíšek

Vladimír Javorský

zlatokop Marc Du Maurier zvaný Plonk, Anin manžel

Petr Keller

Nizy, nejmladší syn Kotowských

Crew and creators

Assistant Director

Ladislav Ondráček

Screenstory

Pavel Juráček

Based on

Jack London (Neočekávané – povídka)

Screenplay

Pavel Juráček, Jan Schmidt, F. A. Brabec (úprava scénáře), Jan Němec (úprava scénáře)

Director of Photography

Ivan Šlapeta, Jiří Macák, F. A. Brabec

Second Unit Photography

Jiří Maxa

Production Designer

Milan Býček, Jindřich Goetz

Costume Designer

Theodor Pištěk

Film Editor

Jiří Brožek

Production Manager

Věra Kopecká

Songs

Mně říkají Joe Poděs

Writer of Lyrics Pavel Juráček
Singer Ondřej VetchýPetr Keller

Locations

Česká republika, Krkonoše (Česká republika), Jizerské hory (Česká republika), Slovensko, Vysoké Tatry (Slovensko), Belianské Tatry (Slovensko), Kanada, Skalnaté hory /Rocky Mountains/ (Kanada), Calgary (Kanada), okolí (Calgary), Rakousko, Tyrolsko (Rakousko), St. Jacob (Tyrolsko)

Production info

Original Title

Situace vlka

Czech Title

Situace vlka

Second Title

Vlčí soud

English Title

The Situation of Wolf

English Second Title

The Wolf Court

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Film state

partially realised project

Genre

adventure

Origin country

Czech Republic

Copyright

1994

Production Year

1994—1995

Premiere

premiere neproběhla

Distribution slogan

no caption

Technical info

Duration typology

short film

Duration in minutes

30 min

Distribution carrier

35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

Czech

Opening/End credits languages

Czech