Zdeněk Podskalský

Directing

Zdeněk Podskalský

Born 1923-02-18 · Prague, Czech Republic

Zdeněk Podskalský (18 February 1923 – 29 October 1993) was a Czech film director and screenwriter. He directed 32 films between 1950 and 1987.

Acting credits

The Hit poster
7.2

Mr Jiš managed to give his first script at Barrandov. Already in the preparatory phase, he discovers with horror that the filmmakers have completely bypassed his intention - instead of a probe into the life of a contemporary village, they are preparing a spectacular musical show, which they are convinced will be a hit with the audience. The very first shots speak volumes. An elegiac arrives in the village of Lipovec and is greeted with singing and dancing by all the local officials and ordinary citizens, as this coveted expert is to help them increase their hectare yields with his progressive methods. The filming continues in a similar vein, and the newly minted screenwriter can't help but wonder...

The Hit

1981

Jára Cimrman Lying, Sleeping poster
8.2

Czechoslovak comedy film directed by Ladislav Smoljak, about the fictional national hero Jára Cimrman (universal genius, inventor, sportsman, criminalist, poet, writer and philosopher).

Jára Cimrman Lying, Sleeping

1983

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Zvonokosy

1990

Cutting It Short poster
7.0

Francin, manager of a small-town brewery, has a charming wife whose abundant blonde locks are an adornment to the town. Maryska looks ethereal but loves meat and beer, while Francin is an ascetic. The strict members of the brewery board of directors come to audit the accounts, but are diverted from concentrating on Francin's detailed reports by Maryska, who has organized a pig-killing feast and is ably assisting the butcher. When she invites the old curmudgeons on the board to enjoy the fresh pork, they are too happy to agree. Francin doesn't know whether he is going to get a permanent contract. To make things worse his brother Pepin - eccentric, noisy and garrulous - turns up on an indefinite visit.

Cutting It Short

1981

The Great Movie Robbery poster
6.8

The film is essentially a feature-length commercial for an exhibition to mark the 40th anniversary of the nationalisation of the Czechoslovak film industry, to be held at the Prague U Hybernu venue. The protagonists of the piece are comedians Oldrich Kaiser and Jirí Lábus, who are set to accept an award from Japanese television representatives at the exhibition. At the same time, five gangsters plot to seize a revolutionary invention devised by professor Suzuki - a super holograph, which enables any figure from television to be transported in the flesh into the real world, and vice-versa.

The Great Movie Robbery

1987

Never Strike A Woman... Even with A Flower poster
7.0

Shortish forty-year old Ludvík Podzimek, lute and flute player in a Prague orchestra, is far from being an attractive man. He is nevertheless generally considered a great 'Don Juan'. Women take up with him out of a certain motherly compassion and Ludvík's tender heart does not allow him to split with any of them. His lovers thus accumulate and cause him numerous troubles.

Never Strike A Woman... Even with A Flower

1967

No artwork available
8.0

The 50th anniversary of the Barrandov studios was celebrated with a spectacular show: many directors and other important people gathered in the expensive decorations of the Variety Theatre auditorium (built for the Circus Humberto series). They smiled and showed well-deserved relaxation after a job well done in managing socialist cinema. Vladimir Sís interspersed this with excerpts from films, mainly his own and also a little of others who had worked on the "Hill of Dreams".

Barrandovské nokturno aneb Jak film tančil a zpíval

1985

Goodbye, Medeo poster
9.0

The director and choreographer from Prague are preparing a show performance "Oriental Fairy Tale" - a ballet on ice with the participation of vocal and instrumental ensembles and pop singers. They are shooting their picture in Kazakhstan at the Medeo high-altitude skating rink.

Goodbye, Medeo

1982

Spanilá jízda poster
7.0

In the Hussite times, religious truth was sifted even on the tips of weapons. When in 1430 the Hussites set out on a raid to Nuremberg, the so-called Spanila Cavalry, to defend their doctrine, the young commander of the cavalry, the landowner Keřský, whose bride had once been kidnapped by a vicious crusader, saw it as an opportunity for personal revenge. Although Oldřich Daněk has tried to establish a distinctive interpretation of historical events, he reflects on where the blinded desire to punish a bad deed with further cruelty leads, but his version seems too thesis-like and lifeless, it does not rise above the descriptively illustrated scenes from old Czech chronicles...

Spanilá jízda

1963

Ta naše písnička česká poster
7.7

The Haszler songs of Prague, so popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, have not aged. They are still sung in pubs and on construction sites, in short, everywhere. They also have their place in the love stories from old Prague, so beautifully told by Miss Veronika. Their heroine is Miss Stázi, who at first had no luck in love with the student Tadeáš. But then she fell in love with three gentlemen at once. The shy Mr. Alois, the cheerful Mr. France and Mr. Johannes, who seduced her behind the Horse Gate. But in the end she preferred the old but rich landlord. Three abandoned gentlemen nearly took their own lives under the Stone Bridge. But grief overcame them and the gentlemen settled down to marriages richly blessed with adorable children. And Miss Stasi? She ran away from the old man and returned to Mr. Franco when he came home from the army.

Ta naše písnička česká

1967

No artwork available
3.7

No synopsis available yet.

Silvestr na přání aneb Čí jsou hory Kavčí

1977

No artwork available
7.0

A New Year's Eve television variety show from late 1978.

Silvestr 1978

1978

Christening poster
5.2

Deputy of cartography enterprise Mr. Ciruvka tries to seduce the colleague's assistant to destabilize his confident in a run for the director's chair. But things can go wrong.

Christening

1981

No artwork available
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Jak se dělá divadlo

1970

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Žena v trysku století

1988

No artwork available
7.0

The music and dance revue about the clown and the girl from the poster takes place in the streets of Prague, in the quiet corners of the Old Town, Lesser Town and Hradčany with the famous motifs of the Gothic gargoyles of St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle, but also on the keyboard of a mechanical typewriter and in the dramaturgical meetings of the then Czechoslovak Television.

Ztracená revue

1961

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Odnes’ to všechno čas?

1968

Behind the camera

Ball Lightning poster
7.3

A comedy about exchange of 12 apartments , which, its organizer, lawyer Radosta, rightly called Action Ball Lightning. To prepare, organize and execute the exchange of twelve apartments is a work worthy champions. Radosta, who was excellently played by Rudolf Hrušínský, solved all sudden difficulties and complications on the fly and with grace. To be sure that the on the D-day everything goes well he prepares a little rehearsal, which reveals many minor issues caused for example by wedding ordered to inappropriate term or hesitation of some participants. Last but not least a night exercise announced by drunk psychologist Knotků, creates a lot of confusion that nearly sabotaged the whole operation.

Ball Lightning

1979

The Hit poster
7.2

Mr Jiš managed to give his first script at Barrandov. Already in the preparatory phase, he discovers with horror that the filmmakers have completely bypassed his intention - instead of a probe into the life of a contemporary village, they are preparing a spectacular musical show, which they are convinced will be a hit with the audience. The very first shots speak volumes. An elegiac arrives in the village of Lipovec and is greeted with singing and dancing by all the local officials and ordinary citizens, as this coveted expert is to help them increase their hectare yields with his progressive methods. The filming continues in a similar vein, and the newly minted screenwriter can't help but wonder...

The Hit

1981

My Dear Aunt and Me poster
7.3

Two kind but foolish sisters live together in their villa in a small town in South Bohemia. Fany (Natasa Gollová) has never married and Andelka (Eva Svobodová) is a widow. In the morning, the two sisters go into town. They need to buy fuel oil, put money in the bank and give plums to the teller. In the meantime an smallish orange Skoda MB car parks at their house, with Hermínka (Iva Janzurová), the old ladies' niece, and her fiancé Michal (Jirí Hrzán) in it. Michal has forgotten to bring flowers and has to go into town to fetch them. At the bank, Fany wants to deposit money but the minute the teller opens the safe, a thief arrives. He knocks the teller and Fany unconscious and runs away with the money. When Fany comes to her senses again, she sees Michal and accuses him of being the thief.

My Dear Aunt and Me

1975

My Dear Aunt and Me poster
7.3

Two kind but foolish sisters live together in their villa in a small town in South Bohemia. Fany (Natasa Gollová) has never married and Andelka (Eva Svobodová) is a widow. In the morning, the two sisters go into town. They need to buy fuel oil, put money in the bank and give plums to the teller. In the meantime an smallish orange Skoda MB car parks at their house, with Hermínka (Iva Janzurová), the old ladies' niece, and her fiancé Michal (Jirí Hrzán) in it. Michal has forgotten to bring flowers and has to go into town to fetch them. At the bank, Fany wants to deposit money but the minute the teller opens the safe, a thief arrives. He knocks the teller and Fany unconscious and runs away with the money. When Fany comes to her senses again, she sees Michal and accuses him of being the thief.

My Dear Aunt and Me

1975

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Pražský Sherlock Holmes

1968

No artwork available
7.0

The servant Josef enters the seemingly peaceful household of the psychiatrist Jaroslav and his wife Žofie, a great lover of the theatre. He is supposed to serve the purpose of increasing the prestige of the family, but he is the true source of confusion and senseless actions. The household becomes a real madhouse. Friend Arthur advises how to get rid of the servant. He will have to be persuaded that Madame Sophie is a psychiatric case. But as we watch this mess, the question gradually arises - who is the madman here?

Blázinec v 1. poschodí

1969

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Herecké Vánoce

1970

No artwork available
6.0

No synopsis available yet.

Posvícení

1954

Kasaři poster
4.4

A detective comedy about ex-cashiers who - except for one - have improved and lead a proper and peaceful life and mostly desperately resist the slightest reminder of their past. However, one of them, Josef Fiala, formerly known as Procházka, is one day asked to open a safe in the Sitex factory that has been slammed open with keys inside by careless employees. The operation goes well, but in time Fiala finds himself suspected of theft...

Kasaři

1958

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Dokonalý muž, dokonalá žena

1986

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Dokonalý muž, dokonalá žena

1986

Poklad byzantského kupce poster
6.6

A detective story revolving around an ancient treasure from the ninth century, believed to have been destroyed during World War II, takes place in an archaeological environment. Its main character is, alongside Captain Exner, who is investigating a strange murder committed on the premises of a scientific institute, a young student at the Academy of Sciences and Arts of the Slovak Republic, Kamila Housková, who discovers that the treasure was not destroyed, but most likely stolen. The bright girl continues her search for the treasure against Captain Exner's will and leads the investigators to a trail that proves the connection between the lost treasure and the murdered woman...

Poklad byzantského kupce

1967

The Great Movie Robbery poster
6.8

The film is essentially a feature-length commercial for an exhibition to mark the 40th anniversary of the nationalisation of the Czechoslovak film industry, to be held at the Prague U Hybernu venue. The protagonists of the piece are comedians Oldrich Kaiser and Jirí Lábus, who are set to accept an award from Japanese television representatives at the exhibition. At the same time, five gangsters plot to seize a revolutionary invention devised by professor Suzuki - a super holograph, which enables any figure from television to be transported in the flesh into the real world, and vice-versa.

The Great Movie Robbery

1987

A Man Who Rose in Price poster
9.0

Mr. Benda, a married father of two children, works for a company that liquidates old banknotes. After one drunken party, he is visited by a painter who tattooed his back in drunkenness the previous night. The image tattooed on Benda’s back is considered the painter’s best work by the professionals.

A Man Who Rose in Price

1968

Never Strike A Woman... Even with A Flower poster
7.0

Shortish forty-year old Ludvík Podzimek, lute and flute player in a Prague orchestra, is far from being an attractive man. He is nevertheless generally considered a great 'Don Juan'. Women take up with him out of a certain motherly compassion and Ludvík's tender heart does not allow him to split with any of them. His lovers thus accumulate and cause him numerous troubles.

Never Strike A Woman... Even with A Flower

1967

Never Strike A Woman... Even with A Flower poster
7.0

Shortish forty-year old Ludvík Podzimek, lute and flute player in a Prague orchestra, is far from being an attractive man. He is nevertheless generally considered a great 'Don Juan'. Women take up with him out of a certain motherly compassion and Ludvík's tender heart does not allow him to split with any of them. His lovers thus accumulate and cause him numerous troubles.

Never Strike A Woman... Even with A Flower

1967

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Už vám není dvacet, paní Bláhová

1980

Men About Town poster
7.1

Three blue collar workers have a night out in big city Prague.

Men About Town

1969

No artwork available
8.0

The 50th anniversary of the Barrandov studios was celebrated with a spectacular show: many directors and other important people gathered in the expensive decorations of the Variety Theatre auditorium (built for the Circus Humberto series). They smiled and showed well-deserved relaxation after a job well done in managing socialist cinema. Vladimir Sís interspersed this with excerpts from films, mainly his own and also a little of others who had worked on the "Hill of Dreams".

Barrandovské nokturno aneb Jak film tančil a zpíval

1985

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Lásky Emanuela Přibyla

1971

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Lásky Emanuela Přibyla

1971

Goodbye, Medeo poster
9.0

The director and choreographer from Prague are preparing a show performance "Oriental Fairy Tale" - a ballet on ice with the participation of vocal and instrumental ensembles and pop singers. They are shooting their picture in Kazakhstan at the Medeo high-altitude skating rink.

Goodbye, Medeo

1982

Goodbye, Medeo poster
9.0

The director and choreographer from Prague are preparing a show performance "Oriental Fairy Tale" - a ballet on ice with the participation of vocal and instrumental ensembles and pop singers. They are shooting their picture in Kazakhstan at the Medeo high-altitude skating rink.

Goodbye, Medeo

1982

Mezi nebem a zemí poster
10.0

Working in the city office is a bitter clerk who believes he has only 14 days to live and so he bravely stands up to his bureaucratic director.

Mezi nebem a zemí

1958