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Jan Werich

Jan Werich

Acting

Biography

Between 1916 and 1924, Werich attended "reálné gymnasium" (equivalent to high school) in Křemencova Street in Prague (where his future business partner, Jiří Voskovec, also studied). He studied law at the Charles University Law School from 1924 to 1927, from which he made an early departure to begin his artistic career and forge one of the most important partnerships of his life. For more than 10 years he worked in theatre Jiří Voskovec and Jaroslav Ježek. Their partnership was a platform for their numerous left-wing political satires, most notably in the Osvobozené divadlo (Liberated Theatre). The trio's work took inspiration from Dada, with its love of the absurd, a reaction against bourgeois values and the horrors of World War I. In 1955 he begun working in cinema, and 1960s were a peak in his actor career. From the creation of the ABC Theatre he moved to the City Theatres of Prague and then to the Musical Theatre of Karlin and Nusle. Werich was originally cast by producer Harry Saltzman to play Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice. Upon his arrival at the Pinewood set, both producer Albert R. Broccoli and director Lewis Gilbert felt that he was a poor choice, resembling a "poor, benevolent Santa Claus".

Known For

Pan Tau
7.1

Pan Tau always had a gentle expression and a friendly smile, he was elegantly dressed in a stroller, with an umbrella and a white carnation in the lapel. Foremost, he was famous for his magic bowler hat. By tapping on his hat, Pan Tau was able to change his appearance into a puppet, to conjure up miscellaneous objects or to do other magic. His most characteristically behavior is that he would help children who were experiencing some sort of difficulties in-between their dreams and reality, like finding a place for skiing, settling family problems on Christmas, and even give a boy a good time at a fair when he is supposed to have piano lessons. To adults, he usually remained invisible.

Pan Tau

1970
Klapzubova jedenáctka
7.0

No description available.

Klapzubova jedenáctka

1968
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N/A

No description available.

Tři strážníci

2005
Assignment K
6.3

Philip Scott, the boss of a toy company, is secretly also the chief of a British spy organization. Scott's cover is destroyed when enemy agents kidnap his girlfriend to force him to reveal the identities of his fellow spies.

Assignment K

1968
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
7.4

A 20th century man lands on the Moon and discovers that Baron Munchausen has beaten him to it, accompanied by Cyrano de Bergerac and the characters from Jules Verne's novels about the conquest of the satellite.

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen

1962
The 25th Hour
7.7

A Romanian peasant fights to get back to his family after he's imprisoned by the Nazis.The picture is based on real events. It includes Hungary's government in collaboration with the Nazis, the encroachment of Romania by Stalin's troopers, and other happenings.

The 25th Hour

1967
The Three Veterans
7.8

It is a story of three veterans released from the army. During one night spent camping in the country they one by one wake up and meet three elvish brothers. Each of the veterans is given a magic item - one gets magic harp that provides him with servants by wish, other one endless pouch of gold and the last one owns magic hat that can create all the staff excluding money and people.

The Three Veterans

1984
Italienisches Capriccio
10.0

Biography of the comic poet Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793).

Italienisches Capriccio

1961
The Fall of Berlin
5.0

Surrounded by a few party officials, Alexei Ivanov, a stakhanovist smelter, is decorated by Stalin. The "Little Father of the Peoples" takes this opportunity to invoke threats of war.... One day, war indeed breaks out. Bombs fall on the field where Alexei finds himself in the company of the schoolmistress Natacha, his fiancée. Alexei joins the Red Army and soon becomes a sergeant. Fighting rages and German troops advance. Natacha is arrested and deported. But the tide turns decisively with the German defeat at Stalingrad. Now the major offensive against Hitler can begin.

The Fall of Berlin

1950
Once Upon a Time, There Was a King...
8.0

A selfish self-centered widowed ruler, barely tolerated by his subjects and called appropriately enough, 'King Myself, First' asks his three daughters to name the measure of their love for him. When one of them says, "more than salt", he banishes her from the kingdom. Not understanding what she meant the King assumes love can only be measured by precious metals or one's own talent, the 'correct' answers from his other two daughters. The arrogance of the King leads him to gather all the salt in the kingdom and destroy it. Of course, this backfires as he slowly learns the universal value of the substance, and of course, the essence of his daughter's reply. With the help of the wise and magical old 'herb woman', the King also learns what it means to be a true and wise ruler.

Once Upon a Time, There Was a King...

1955
When the Cat Comes
6.9

While old Oliva tells a group of children about his life as a sailor and how he met Diana and her cat with sunglasses, a strange circus arrives in town.

When the Cat Comes

1963
Hudba z Marsu
6.1

The employees of the furniture company MARS welcome a rare visitor with hired music. Their boast that they would put together an orchestra is taken seriously, so they receive a small gift - musical instruments for thirty musicians.

Hudba z Marsu

1955
The World Belongs to Us
7.2

One of the few European films of the 30s to criticize the Nazis, even if they couldn't be directly named due to censorship: Gangsters with gray hats stir up trouble in what is obviously the Sudetenland.

The World Belongs to Us

1937
The Emperor and the Golem
7.0

The Emperor's mismanagement of his country is provoking some in his court to plot to overthrow him. He feels successful, at least, when he discovers the legendary Golem, which he believes can protect him and even cure his imaginary illnesses but, when he disappears while on a bender, his kindly baker, who looks just like him, is mistaken for him, and begins to put things in order. However, the conspirators, not to be outdone, determine to bring the Golem back to life to do their bidding.

The Emperor and the Golem

1952
The Golem
5.2

The Golem, a giant creature created out of clay by a rabbi, comes to life in a time of trouble to protect the Jews of Prague from persecution.

The Golem

1936
Three veterans
N/A

Three retired soldiers - veterans who wander the world - receive magical gifts from elves - a bottomless bag of gold coins, a hat for any wish, and a harp for conjuring giants. The soldiers, thus gifted, set off for a kingdom that is a bit strange. King Pikola lives there with his daughter Bosana, with whom Bimbác falls in love. Bosana is not only beautiful, but also treacherous and gradually deprives the soldiers of all their gifts and has them banished...

Three veterans

1964
Jaroslav Hasek's Exemplary Cinematograph
5.9

Jaroslav Hašek screens four film stories in the fairground shed around 1900. After period advertising slides and a "newspaper", we see "the first part of a sensational, exemplary, parfuss, salon program - a film from the life of school-age children, shot under very difficult circumstances". The plot of this film takes place partly in a school classroom and partly in a gymnasium toilet, where the primate Chocholka took refuge from a Latin composition. "Exemplary Family Happiness" is the second film that takes the viewer into the family of the municipal official Honzátek, in which many stormy scenes occurred when the hamster, provided by Honzátek Jr., moved into the sofa - a wedding gift from Sister Ema. Equally surprising are two other stories, one of which tells about the "father of the poor", the owner of a company with unrecoverable cash flow and a famous patron, and the other about the fateful consequences of a joint trip between the old bachelor Mr. Hanzlíček and his neighbors.

Jaroslav Hasek's Exemplary Cinematograph

1956
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N/A

No description available.

Voskovec & Werich, paralelní osudy

2012
Pan Tau – der Film
6.4

Pan Tau, the friend of all children, now also helps the adults. A movie producer is in trouble and decides to shoot another Pan-Tau movie. But the old Pan-Tau actor Karasek is no longer young enough to walk the almost weightless walk of Pan Tau. Mr. Novak turns up - he resembles Pan Tau like a twin brother. He succeeds every pirouette. And as if by magic, he solves all the problems between people! Who is Mr. Novak? Is he really ...?

Pan Tau – der Film

1988
Dog's Heads
5.7

The history of the rebellion of the brave Chody, led by Jan Sladký Kozina and Matěj Přibek, against the violent tyranny of the foreign nobleman Maximilian Lamminger of Albenreuth. Based on the novel of the same name by Alois Jirásek.

Dog's Heads

1955