Czechoslovakia's forgotten noir: where surveillance meets paranoia in ice-cold black and white.
A car deliberately runs down a young man on a road by a small border town. The locals recognize the dead man as one of the students who were there on volunteer work some time before. The police detectives, Major Kalas (Rudolf Hrusínský) and Lieutenant Varga (Radoslav Brzobohatý) can then get on the trail of the people with whom the victim was involved, especially at the photographic studio headed by Bohuslav Pacer (Bohus Záhorský).
Cinematography
Shadow-soaked frames that breathe Soviet-era dread.
Acting
Hrušínský's granite-faced investigator weaponizes silence.
Director
Bedřich Baťka
Rudolf Hrušínský
major SNB Kalaš
Radoslav Brzobohatý
nadporučík SNB Varga
Bohuš Záhorský
vedoucí Fotografie Bohumil Pacer
Helga Čočková
Věra Klímová
Soběslav Sejk
příslušník VB Suchánek
Bohuš Hradil
MUDr. Hanzl
Jan Pohan
Ladislav Potměšil
učeň zvaný Domovníček
Jarmila Smejkalová
účetní Fotografie Milnerová
Václav Lohniský
zástupce vedoucího Fotografie Hadraba
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during the brief Czech New Wave thaw, it's a rare Communist-bloc noir that critiques the system while pretending to enforce it.
Hrušínský would become Czech cinema's most beloved comedian—this stone-cold performance is delicious against-type casting.
XC
