Otakar Vávra
80 movies
- Known for
- Directing
- Born
- Feb 28, 1911
- Died
- Sep 15, 2011 (age 100)
- Place of birth
- Hradec Králové, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]
Biography
Otakar Vávra (28 February 1911 – 15 September 2011) was a Czech film director, screenwriter and pedagogue.
Vávra attended universities in Brno and Prague, where he studied architecture. During 1929–30, while still a student, he participated in the making of a handful of documentaries and wrote movie scripts. In 1931, he produced the experimental film Světlo proniká tmou. The first movie he directed was 1937's Panenství.
Read the full biography
His 1938 film The Merry Wives was praised in Variety for "first-rate direction, a salty yarn and elaborate production effort", even though it had undergone certain cuts because it was considered too "ribald" by American censors.
Vávra was a member of the Communist Party from 1945 to 1989. After the Communists seized power in 1948, Vávra adapted quickly to the new political climate and produced films praising the current regime and supporting the new, official interpretation of the past.
In the 1950s he filmed the "Hussite Trilogy", one of his most famous works, consisting of Jan Hus (1954), Jan Žižka (1955) and Against All (1957).[2]
In the 1960s, Vávra made his most celebrated films Zlatá reneta (1965), Romance for Bugle (1966) and Witchhammer (1969). Romance for Bugle was entered into the 5th Moscow International Film Festival where it won the Special Silver Prize.
In the 1970s Vávra produced his "War Trilogy" consisting of semi-documentary movies Dny zrady, Sokolovo and Osvobození Prahy, all being heavily influenced by communist propaganda. The film Dny zrady (Days of Betrayal, 1973) was entered into the 8th Moscow International Film Festival where it won a Diploma. In 1979 he was a member of the jury at the 11th Moscow International Film Festival.
Since the 1950s Vávra taught film direction at Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Among his students were several directors of the "Czech New Wave".
Profiles IMDb
Known for
Otakar Vávra: movies and TV shows
Acting (1)
- 1987
Behind the camera (81)
- 2002 Moje Praha
Director, Story, Screenplay
- 1995
- 1989 Evropa tančila valčík
Director
- 1986 Veronika
Screenplay, Director
- 1985 Oldrich and Bozena
Director, Screenplay
- 1984 Komediant
Screenplay, Director
- 1983 Putování Jana Amose
Story, Director, Screenplay
- 1980 Dark Sun
Director, Screenplay
- 1978 A Story of Love and Honor
Director, Screenplay
- 1977 The Liberation of Prague
Director, Screenplay, Story
- 1975 Sokolovo
Director, Story, Screenplay
- 1973 Days of Betrayal
Director, Story, Screenplay
- 1970 Witchhammer
Director, Screenplay
- 1969 The Thirteenth Chamber
Screenplay, Director
- 1967 Romance for Bugle
Director, Screenplay
- 1965 Golden Queen
Screenplay, Director
- 1963 Horoucí srdce
Story, Screenplay, Director
- 1961 The Night Guest
Screenplay, Director
- 1961 August Sunday
Director, Screenplay
- 1961 Policejní hodina
Screenplay, Director
- 1960 Národní umělec Zdeněk Štěpánek
Screenplay, Director
- 1960 První parta
Screenplay, Director
- 1959 Občan Brych
Screenplay, Director
- 1957 Against All
Director, Creative Producer, Screenplay
- 1956 Jan Žižka
Screenplay, Creative Producer, Story, Director
- 1955 Jan Hus
Story, Screenplay, Director
- 1954 Shoesmachine
Screenplay
- 1953 Nástup
Director, Screenplay
- 1951 Posel úsvitu
Creative Producer
- 1950 Racek Is Late
Creative Producer
- 1950 Dva ohně
Creative Producer
- 1950 Láska
Director, Screenplay
- 1949 Rodinné trampoty oficiála Tříšky
Creative Producer
- 1949 Year of the Revolution 1848
Creative Producer, Story, Screenplay
- 1949 Hostinec „U kamenného stolu“
Screenplay, Story, Creative Producer
- 1949 Silent Barricade
Screenplay, Creative Producer, Director
- 1949 Vzbouření na vsi
Creative Producer
- 1949 Na dobré stopě
Creative Producer
- 1948 White Darkness
Creative Producer
- 1948 The Musician
Creative Producer
- 1948 Wild Beasts
Creative Producer
- 1948 Krakatit
Creative Producer, Director, Screenplay
- 1948 Až se vrátíš...
Creative Producer
- 1947 Presentiment
Creative Producer, Director, Screenplay
- 1946 The Adventurous Bachelor
Director, Screenplay
- 1946 Cesta k barikádám
Director, Screenplay, Story
- 1945 Rozina the Love Child
Director, Screenplay
- 1945 Vlast vítá
Screenplay, Director, Story
- 1945 Návrat presidenta dr. Edvarda Beneše do Prahy 16. května 1945
Director, Screenplay, Story
- 1943 Happy Journey
Director, Screenplay
- 1942 Přijdu hned
Director, Screenplay
- 1942 Okouzlená
Director, Screenplay
- 1941 Turbina
Screenplay, Director
- 1940 May Fairy Tale
Director, Screenplay
- 1940 The Masked Lover
Screenplay, Director
- 1940 Pacientka dr. Hegla
Director, Screenplay
- 1940 The Girl in Blue
Director, Screenplay
- 1939 The Magic House
Director, Screenplay
- 1939 Humoreska
Director, Screenplay
- 1938 The Merry Wives
Director, Screenplay
- 1938 Její pastorkyně
Screenplay
- 1937 Hlídač č. 47
Screenplay
- 1937 History of Philosophy
Director, Screenplay
- 1937 Virginity
Director, Screenplay
- 1937 Morality Above All Else
Screenplay
- 1937 Camel Through The Eye Of A Needle
Director, Screenplay
- 1936 A Little Street in Paradise
Writer
- 1936 Uličnice
Screenplay
- 1936 Passage in the Paradise
Screenplay, Story
- 1936 Three Men in the Snow
Screenplay
- 1935 Vdavky Nanynky Kulichovy
Screenplay
- 1935 Listopad
Director, Screenplay, Editor
- 1935 Bezdětná
Screenplay
- 1935 The Eleventh Commandment
Screenplay
- 1935 Maryša
Screenplay
- 1934 We Live in Prague
Director, Editor, Screenplay, Story
- 1933 Svítání
Screenplay
- 1933 Ze světa lesních samot
Screenplay
- 1931 The Light Penetrates the Dark
Director, Screenplay, Editor, Story
- 1931 Modern shoe production
Director
- 1930 The Bať family's trip to Yugoslavia
Director
Talk shows and appearances (5)
- 2018
- 2009 Golden Sixties
1 episode
- 2005
- 1985
- 1958