''Larks on a String'' () is a 1969

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

film directed by

Jiří Menzel Jiří Menzel () (23 February 1938 – 5 September 2020) was a Czech film director, theatre director, actor, and screenwriter. His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography. Some of these films ...

. The film was banned by the Czechoslovak government, but was later released in 1990 after the fall of the

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

regime. It tells the stories of various characters considered

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

by Czechoslovakia's communist government in the 1950s, who have been forced to work in a junkyard for the purposes of re-education. It won the

Golden Bear The Golden Bear () is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival and is, along with the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion, the most important international film festival award. The bear is the heraldic an ...

at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.

Cast

* Rudolf Hrušínský as Trustee *

Vlastimil Brodský Vlastimil Brodský (15 December 1920 – 20 April 2002) was a Czech actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films, and is considered a key figure in the postwar development of Czech cinema. One of his best-known roles was as the title charac ...

as Professor * Václav Neckář as Pavel Hvezdár * Jitka Zelenohorská as Jitka * Jaroslav Satoranský as Guard Andel *

Vladimír Šmeral Vladimír Šmeral (16 October 1903 – 15 March 1982) was a Czech actor. Life Šmeral was born on 16 October 1903 in Drásov, Moravia, Austria-Hungary. He started acting in Zemské divadlo in Brno. He moved to Prague and acted in Liberated Thea ...

as Minister * Ferdinand Krůta as Kudla * František Řehák as Drobecek * Leoš Suchařípa as Public prosecutor * Vladimír Ptáček as Mlíkar * Eugen Jegorov as Saxophonist (as Evžen Jegorov) * Naďa Urbánková as Lenka * Věra Křesadlová as Convict * Věra Ferbasová as Convict * Jiřina Štěpničková as Pavel's mother

References

External links

* 1969 films 1969 comedy films 1990 films Czechoslovak comedy films 1960s Czech-language films Films based on works by Bohumil Hrabal Films directed by Jiří Menzel Golden Bear winners Golden Kingfisher winners Films critical of communism Censored films {{1960s-comedy-film-stub