Prague in the 1870s. Work in Smolík's sulphur factory is hard and dangerous to health. The poorly paid workers resemble torches because their clothes are soaked with poisonous phosphorus. Young Josef Rezler also works in the sulphur factory and uses his earnings to feed his mother and little sisters. He throws his perpetually drunken father out of the house. The older worker Brož forces Josef to learn to read and write. A cholera epidemic breaks out in Prague and Josef is the only one of his family to survive the disease...
Director
Vladimír Čech
Eduard Cupák
worker Josef Rezler
Zuzana Stivínová
Anci Rozsypalová
Jaroslav Vojta
factory Smolík
Luděk Munzar
Otto - Smolík's son
Karel Höger
Father Novotný
Vlastimil Hašek
singer Hejkal
Václav Sloup
accordionist Shrovetide
Lubomír Kostelka
singer Kulda
Vladimír Brabec
foreman Ladislav Zápotocký
Jan Tříska
foreman Josef Pecka
Jiří Kodet
editor Norbert Zoula
Rudolf Jelínek
editor Fait
Oldřich Lukeš
worker Smejkál
Oldřich Velen
worker Broz
XC
