Czech film director and screenwriter, painter and graphic artist. One of the most interesting post-war Czech film makers, whose work was recognised around the world.
3 June 1930, Prague – 5 February 2019, Prague
In the 1950s, Václav Vorlíček studied directing at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts. His early career in film studios is connected with Barrandov Studios, where he began working as assistant director and quickly made his way up to first assistant director. In the second half of the 1960s, he worked as an independent director. As one of the central figures of Czech cinematography in the era of Normalisation, Vorlíček was forced to shoot politically engaged films characteristic of the time, including the comedy trilogy Wine Working (Bouřlivé víno, 1976), Mature Wine (Zralé víno, 1981) and Young Wine (Mladé víno, 1986), set in the countryside and featuring a president of an agricultural cooperative as the protagonist. In spite of this, he managed to create a number of comedies that were very popular with the audience and at the same time ideologically neutral, mostly filmed in collaboration with the writer and screenwriter Miloš Macourek. Particularly popular were and still are his timeless film comedies from the 1970s, such as the fantastic comedy You Are a Widow, Sir! (Pane, vy jste vdova!, 1970), the absurdist science fiction film How About a Plate of Spinach? (Což takhle dát si špenát, 1977) and the family comedy How to Drown Dr. Mracek, the Lawyer (Jak utopit Dr. Mráčka aneb Konec vodníků v Čechách, 1974). The Vorlíček–Macourek duo also created the popular fairy tale series for children The Flying Čestmír (Létající Čestmír, 1983), Hamster in a Nightshirt (Křeček v noční košili, 1987) and most of all Arabela (1979), which is beyond doubt one of the cult Czech series and is one of the pinnacles of Vorlíček’s career. Vorlíček also became famous as the author of a number of Czech film fairy tales, especially the internationally famous version of the classic fairy tale Three Nuts for Cinderella (Tři oříšky pro Popelku, 1973) with Libuše Šafránková in the leading role. His other popular films include the romantic story of the witch Saxana The Girl on the Broomstick (Dívka na koštěti, 1971) and his adaptations of classic fairy tales: the modern Sleeping Beauty in the fairy tale The Best Way of Waking up Princesses (Jak se budí princezny, 1977) and the more traditional The Prince and the Evening Star (Princ a Večernice, 1978).
Vorlíček’s films and fairy tales are a beloved part of Christmas television programmes not only in the Czech Republic, but also in some other countries (e.g. in Germany, Norway and Russia). The director beloved by several generations was the subject of Zdeněk Zelenka’s documentary biography film Václav Vorlíček, King of Comedies and Fairy Tales (Václav Vorlíček, král komedií a pohádek, 2005).
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