Václav Vorlíček

Director

June 3, 1930 (88 years)

† February 5, 2019

Prague, Czechia

Biography

Václav Vorlíček (3 June 1930 – 5 February 2019) was a Czech film director. He studied filmmaking at FAMU from 1951 to 1956. His filmography includes several comedies made in collaboration with screenwriter Miloš Macourek. He directed several children's and fairytale films, most notably Tři oříšky pro Popelku (1973), a Christmas film classic in many European countries.

Filmography

8.3

Arabela

Arabela was a children's television series produced in Czechoslovakia which aired from 1979 to 1981. The series has 13 episodes and is in the Czech language.

7.5

Three Wishes for Cinderella

Popelka, a resourceful and independent young girl, is a servant in her stepmother's house and confides in her closest friend the owl. When she comes across three magical acorns, she's granted a single wish for each one of them.

6.6

The Flying Cestmir

Young boy Cestmir finds a magic rock which allows him to bring the seeds of the flowers which allow flying from Blue Planet...

6.9

Arabela se vrací aneb Rumburak králem Říše pohádek

A lot has happened since the magic bell last rang. Arabela and Petr have been together for 10 years and are still waiting in vain for a child. Honzík and Mařenka have become university students, studying folklore, i.e. fairy tales. The realm of fairy tales is seriously threatened. The giant Balibul is banished from the land of giants for being a vegetarian and settles near the kingdom to learn how to eat people. Every day he demands a new victim. Bystrozraký escapes from prison to avoid becoming his victim and seizes the magic cloak. He flies into the world of humans.

7.6

Křeček v noční košili

No description available

6.5

Desire

A poignant overview of how short life can be, this interesting drama from Czech director Vojetch Jasny is divided into four separate segments. In the first skit, a young child's impressions are observed as his newborn baby sister becomes a part of the family. In the second, a young woman falls in love for the first time one summer, and in the third, a tough, older peasant woman battles against the farming cooperatives. Finally, in the last segment, everything comes full circle as a woman who is about to become a grandmother dies while her daughter-in-law has not yet given birth.

8.0

Dva muži hlásí příchod

An only son, Jirí Valenta (Jaromír Hanzlík), has been drafted to the army. At the barracks he acquires the nickname Seamstress because he sews rugs in his spare time. One day, his friend introduces him to Julka Vávrová (Jorga Kotrbová), a girl he is desperate to get rid of. The naive Jirí falls in love with the girl and accepts her invitation to spend Easter together in the country. There he learns that the girl is the single mother of the young boy Martínek, whose father is the married tractor driver.

7.0

Who Wants to Kill Jessie?

In this zany Czechoslovakian comedy, a scientist invents a machine that projects a sleeping person's dream on a screen; disaster soon follows when the machine malfunctions and the cartoon-like dream characters become very real!

6.5

How to Drown Dr. Mracek, the Lawyer

There are still water spirits among us. One group lives in Prague, led by Mr. Wassermann, who is using his wife's family as a servants. All they need is their old house near the river. But the house is to be demolished. They have to stop it. And the only way is to drown Dr. Mrácek, who is responsible for the demolition. But he falls in love with Wassermann's niece Jana. He changes to fish, is mistaken for water spirit from Germany, is drowned and revived again. The other problem is the flour with ears... and so on...

6.4

How to Wake a Princess

At long last, King Dalimil and Queen Eliška have produced an heir, Princess Růženka. Consumed with envy, Eliška’s sister Melánie casts a curse: On the day Růženka turns seventeen, she will prick her finger and fall into a deep sleep together with the entire kingdom.

6.2

A Nice Plate of Spinach

The heroes of this absurd comedy, full of confusion and humor are Dzharda Zemanek and Frantisek Liska.

5.4

The Firebird

The sick King Jorgen worries about the marriage of his daughter Elena. The fairytale-like, dramatic confusion triggers a shimmering golden fire bird with its wondrous song every full moon night - it makes the king heal and brings the "good" prince as husband of the "good" Princess Elena.

7.7

Wine Working

It is the summer of 1968 and also in South Moravian Pálavice appear political clashes. The so far peacefully farming Unified farmers' cooperative starts splitting. Some of the farmers have found the cooperative called Vidrupa and want to deal with wine in private trade. Michal Janák, chairman of the farmers' cooperative is a deliberate man and refuses the latent return to the capitalism. As an excellent farmer he continues preparing planting out new vineyards. His adversaries do not agree - the returns will come many years later. Jozka Hrdlicka, an émigré, notices on the Austrian TV the interview with the representatives of Vidrupa and decides to visit his native village. The new suit and the hired car transform the bankrupt and criminal to the successful businessman with wine.

7.0

Tomáš and the Falcon King

Tomas, a 14-year-old boy lives beneath the castle of the powerful Lord Balador. The boy is able to communicate with animals, and he tries to obtain the royal falcon – a symbol of freedom and faith. He also falls in love with Balador's daughter Formina, a girl who is to be married off against her will.

6.9

Rumburak

In this fairy-tale comedy, a clumsy second-rate wizard, Rumburak, gets stuck in the world of humans. He has forgotten the spell that allows him to return to his home fairyland. His only joy is watching the figure skater Helen, whom he would like to woo. His hopes of returning to fairyland dawn when he discovers a computer in a research institute that could generate the lost spell.

6.1

The End of Agent W4C

The invincible agent Cyril Juan Borguette alias W4C has been assigned a mission to go to a hotel in Prague, get hold of a saltcellar with a plan for the military exploitation of Venus hidden in it, and hand it over to the beautiful agent Alice. He will have to compete for the saltcellar with other agents working for the world's various greater and smaller powers. The head of the Prague counter-intelligence unit gets news of agent W4C's mission. Deficient in personnel, he nominates accountant Foustka as agent 13B. Mr Foustka takes his dog Pajda with him and the two head for the airport. Pajda helps him track down agent W4C in a classy hotel that becomes the battleground for the interests and plans of the secret agents from different countries, each trying to get hold of the precious saltcellar.

7.8

Mature Wine

A loose sequel to the 1976 comedy Stormy Wine. The screenwriters and the director recreate on screen a number of characters from the South Moravian town of Pálavice, characterised by their different attitudes and approaches to work and private life. A number of serious issues touching on the times emerge around the story of the con man. The fundamental dispute between the vice-chairman Janák and the chairman of the merged cooperatives ing. Urban, as well as the satirical theme of illegal machinations and bribes, are undoubtedly of general validity.

6.9

The Girl on the Broomstick

A teenage witch, frozen in time as a punishment for 300 years, finds herself in a modern world.

6.0

Prince and the Evening Star

A wonderful fairytale about looking for love, defeating evil and learning some valuable moral lessons on the way. The story begins with the young Prince Velen, who is left in charge of the castle and his three sisters. During the night he has a visitation and before he knows it, all his sisters are married off and gone away, and himself falls in love with beautiful Večernice. Now he is faced with the King's wraths and charged with a quest. The journey, however, hides obstacles and danger; not only treacherous merchants and robbers, but also a evil wizard Mrakomor...

4.8

Max, Sally and the Magic Phone

Max and Sally, the heroes of popular Czech animated series are leaving the TV in order to become a regular boy and girl.