Otakar Vávra

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. 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 …

Directed

1. Witchhammer (1970) — Director
2. Krakatit (1948) — Director
3. Romance for Bugle (1967) — Director
4. The Light Penetrates the Dark (1931) — Director
5. Jan Hus (1955) — Director
6. Sokolovo (1975) — Director
7. Virginity (1937) — Director
8. The Merry Wives (1938) — Director
9. The Girl in Blue (1940) — Director
10. Against All (1957) — Director
11. We Live in Prague (1934) — Director
12. Dark Sun (1980) — Director
13. Jan Žižka (1956) — Director
14. Days of Betrayal (1973) — Director
15. Nástup (1953) — Director
16. Silent Barricade (1949) — Director
17. Oldrich and Bozena (1985) — Director
18. Veronika (1986) — Director
19. Golden Queen (1965) — Director
20. May Fairy Tale (1940) — Director
21. The Magic House (1939) — Director
22. The Night Guest (1961) — Director
23. Camel Through The Eye Of A Needle (1937) — Director
24. The Liberation of Prague (1977) — Director
25. Přijdu hned (1942) — Director
26. Happy Journey (1943) — Director
27. Turbina (1941) — Director
28. Presentiment (1947) — Director
29. Komediant (1984) — Director
30. Putování Jana Amose (1983) — Director
31. The Thirteenth Chamber (1969) — Director
32. Listopad (1935) — Director
33. History of Philosophy (1937) — Director
34. Rozina the Love Child (1945) — Director
35. A Story of Love and Honor (1978) — Director
36. August Sunday (1961) — Director
37. Humoreska (1939) — Director
38. Evropa tančila valčík (1989) — Director
39. Policejní hodina (1961) — Director
40. Pacientka dr. Hegla (1940) — Director

Also appeared in

1. The Great Movie Robbery (1987)
2. Searching for Ester (2005) — Himself
3. CzechMate: In Search of Jiří Menzel (2018) — Self
4. Moje Praha (2002) — Self
5. Barrandovské nokturno aneb Jak film tančil a zpíval (1985) — Self - Audience Member
6. A Box of Film (1958) — Self
7. Golden Sixties (2009) — Self
8. GENUS (1995) — Self