Jan Werich
Also Known As: Ян Верих
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".
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Praha - Československo
Adult: No
Birthday: February 06, 1905
Age: 120 years old
Gender: Male
Deathday: October 31, 1980
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Known For:
Assignment K
Overview: 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.
Genres: Thriller Action Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1968-02-16
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The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
Overview: 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.
Genres: Fantasy Adventure Animation Comedy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1962-07-01
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The Emperor and the Golem
Overview: 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.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy Horror
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1952-01-04
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Fimfarum 2
Overview: The sequel to the successful film Fimfárum by Jan Werich. Four brand new stories “for clever children and clever adults” from the popular book written by Jan Werich. Břetislav Pojar introduces the story of little Tom Thumb full of twists and adventure. Aurel Klimt brings to life three brothers, The Hunchbacks of Damascus, re-creating the atmosphere of the Middle East and variety of the oriental storytelling. Vlasta Pospíšilová’s Three Sisters and One Ring shows a rural Decameron-like manual on how to enchant one’s loved ones with a mere ring and Jan Balej lets his characters Marek and Kouba re-live an ancient fairy-tale about greed, devils and natural phenomena in his The Sea, Uncle, Why is it Salty?
Genres: Animation Family
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 2006-02-23
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Jan Werich's Fimfarum
Overview: Humorous as well as educational stories about magical and everyday problems, about devils, miracles, ordinary human vices and wisdom. The graphic design of the stories reflects the humour and the atmosphere of the stories Fimfárum, When the Leaves Fall from the Oak, Franta the Fearless, A Dream Come True, and Greedy Barka, that were recorded by Jan Werich on an LP in the 1960’s and published in a book called Fimfarum.
Genres: Animation Family Fantasy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 2002-11-28
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Two Little Frosts
Overview: Two mischievous frost spirits make things chilly for a pair of travelers in this wintry comic folktale.
Genres: Animation Comedy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1955-04-22
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Once Upon a Time, There Was a King...
Overview: 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.
Genres: Family Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1955-02-11
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Fimfarum - To the good of all
Overview: The film contains three Jan Werich's fairy tales, each directed by one artist. The first story sets out to the Sumava mountains in Southern Bohemia to find out whether Ogres ever lived there. The middle tale The Hat and the Little Jay Feather concerns a king who sends his three sons to bring back a hat he left at a tavern when he was young. The third and longest fairy tale Reason and Luck is about the two virtues of the title try to prove their importance by changing the life of a pig herder named Louis. Written by
Genres: Animation
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 2011-02-10
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The Creation of the World
Overview: La Création du Monde is among the first animated feature films made in France. But to be exact, the film was animated in Czechoslovakia and directed by Eduard Hofman. It is adapted from a series of five books by Jean Effel, a French caricaturist and illustrator. The visual style is adapted from his drawings. The film is a comedy about the creation of the universe in six days, with the devil messing around and contributing in his own way.
Genres: Animation Comedy Family
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1958-04-04
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Your Money or Your Life
Overview: A czech film that focuses on an unfaithful husband who married in to money, as well as an impoverished man who is turns to theft.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1932-10-14
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Pražská strašidla
Overview:
Genres: Documentary Animation
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1966-01-01
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The Fall of Berlin
Overview: 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.
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: ru
Release Date: 1950-01-21
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Hudba z Marsu
Overview:
Genres: Comedy Music
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1955-05-27
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Powder and Petrol
Overview: The Voskovec and Werich duo play a peculiar pair - a clumsy coach driver and an equally clumsy traffic policeman, who both fall in love with a young actress. Although their ludicrous courtship does not work out, both buddies become successful revue comedians.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1932-01-15
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Heave-Ho!
Overview: A Milk-Cannery baron, Jakub Simonides, is broken by the Canned Milk-Trust and, in his wanderings with a worker, Filip Kornet, he discovers he still owns a half-finished apartment-house. They rally the workers and complete the building for use as a collectivist dairy. The cooperative flourishes and after a chase/pursuit with the police, pratfalls, slapstick and various crashes, the workers buy out the Milk-Trust.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1934-10-26
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The World Belongs to Us
Overview: 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.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1937-07-30
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Těžká Barbora
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1960-06-13
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When the Cat Comes
Overview: 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.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1963-09-20
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The Good Soldier Schweik
Overview: Adapting Jaroslav Hasek's raucous satirical novel, and also bringing Josef Lada's equally famous illustrations to garrulous puppet life, posed Trnka one of his biggest creative challenges. Trnka himself felt that the final episode was the most artistically successful, but there's much to enjoy in all three, not least the way that the lackadaisical layabout Svejk's own self-serving anecdotes are realized through cut-out animation.
Genres: Comedy Animation
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1956-10-04
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Crisis
Overview: A documentary about the conquest of Czechoslovakia by the Nazis just prior to World War 2.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1939-03-13
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Here in Kocourkov
Overview: Curious citizens await the arrival of an important guest, the son of poacher, who became famous abroad. Begins celebration in his honor, but nobody knows that instead of the hero arrived cursory prisoner number 1313. He quickly understand how things are and decides to take the opportunity and very quickly gets into a new role.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1934-11-23
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Uspořená libra
Overview:
Genres: Comedy TV Movie
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1963-12-31
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Balada z hadrů
Overview:
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1960-08-17
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The Dear Departed
Overview:
Genres: TV Movie
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1964-12-25
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Silvestr 1957
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1957-01-01
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When the Oak Leaves Fall
Overview: The story is a celebration of the cleverness and wit of the simple peasant Čupera, who triumphs not only over the demon of alcohol, but also over the bureaucratically persistent and thorough devil. The hell that the farmer goes through during the withdrawal process is stylized as a shantytown, a galley with a prison and a dehumanized night club.
Genres: Animation Comedy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1991-01-01
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The 25th Hour
Overview: 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.
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1967-04-26
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Kočár nejsvětější svátosti
Overview:
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1963-10-18
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Medvěd
Overview:
Genres: TV Movie Comedy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1961-01-15
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Magnetické vlny léčí
Overview:
Genres: TV Movie Comedy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1965-12-25
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King and Women
Overview:
Genres: Comedy History
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1967-12-30
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The Cry
Overview: While a woman is in the hospital preparing to deliver her child, her husband has all day to reflect upon his wife and their relationship. As he tends to his job as a television repairman, Slavek fondly remembers how he first met Ivana and the days they spent getting to know one another. Slavek also grows increasingly aware of the environment that surrounds him and questions the society his new child will be entering. Loaded with a repeated plea for social change, this is the first feature from Czech writer/director Jaromil Jires.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1964-02-14
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Tears the World Can't See
Overview:
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1963-10-18
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Mean Barbara
Overview: When the village school master discovers the body of a mean-spirited, miserly old woman, with whom he has had a disagreement, he decides to dispose of the body himself without alerting anyone else to it, but when the body is discovered by another villager the same cycle begins again, with the body eventually passing through the hands of half of the village.
Genres: Animation
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1989-07-01
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Italienisches Capriccio
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: de
Release Date: 1961-06-08
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To jsou Bratři v triku
Overview:
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1957-01-01
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Pan Tau – der Film
Overview: 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 ...?
Genres: Family Fantasy Comedy
Original Language: de
Release Date: 1988-11-03
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The Golden Fish
Overview: A poor fisherman catches the golden fish that promises him to fulfil three wishes if he sets her free again. He does so and the fish fulfils two of his three wishes. However, she refuses to fulfil the third one, the last one in which the fisherman’s wife wants to be equal to God.
Genres: Animation
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1951-01-01
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Czechoslovakia: Portrait of a Tragedy
Overview:
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1968-01-01
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Pouť noci silvestrovské
Overview:
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1953-12-31
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Dog's Heads
Overview: Dog's Heads (Czech: Psohlavci) is a 1955 Czech drama film directed by Martin Frič, based on the novel of the same name by Alois Jirásek. It was entered into the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.
Genres: History Drama
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1955-03-25
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Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkova budějovická anabase
Overview:
Genres: Animation Comedy War
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1956-09-21
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Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkovy nehody ve vlaku
Overview:
Genres: Animation Comedy War
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1955-01-01
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Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Z Hatvanu na hranice Haliče
Overview:
Genres: Animation Comedy War
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1954-07-11
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Jaroslav Hasek's Exemplary Cinematograph
Overview:
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1956-06-01
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Jan Werich: Když už člověk jednou je…
Overview:
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 2021-08-05
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Jonáš a Melicharová
Overview:
Genres: Comedy Music
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1986-12-01
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Královna Koloběžka první
Overview: A Czech animation.
Genres: Animation
Original Language: cs
Release Date: 1981-01-01
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