Thursday, August 30, 2012

A Prayer for Katerina Horovitz (1965)

A Prayer for Katerina Horovitz • Modlitba pro Kateřinu Horovitzovou (1965)
A Prayer for Katerina Horovitz • Modlitba pro Kateřinu Horovitzovou (1965)
Czech New Wave
Genre: Drama
Director: Antonín Moskalyk
Starring: Jiří Adamíra , Lenka Fišerová , Martin Růžek , Čestmír Řanda, Ilja Prachař
Language: Czech
Duration: 68 min.
Rating: 7.5
Summary:
In 1943 Italy, a group of Jewish-American businessmen and a young Polish actress are arrested by the Germans, and their freedom is offered in exchange for a large ransom and a trade for captured Nazi officers.
A Prayer for Katerina Horovitz is a made for TV film directed by Antonín Moskalyk, based on a novella inspired by real events written by Arnost Lustig. It won the Golden Nymph at the 1966 Monte Carlo Film and Television Festival. This was the first of two successful pairings between Moskalyk and Lustig, who would later work together on Dita Saxová (1968).

This chilling psychological story follows a group of wealthy Jewish-American businessmen, and the title character, a young Polish actress (played by Czech actress Lenka Fiserová) captured by the SS in 1943 Italy. Now hostages of the SS commander Bedrich Brenske (Jiří Adamíra), they are told that they will be traded for German officers held by the Allies, but first must pay the exorbitant 'transportation' costs to get them there. Along the way, their plans are constantly impeded and they must fork over larger sums of cash in order to continue.

Despite being made for television, the quality is still very impressive. It's limited to a few interior location sets, the pacing doesn't always work, and somehow everyone speaks Czech. However, the scenario is well written, the acting is excellent, especially from Adamíra who is the perfect evil villain here, and the tension and atmosphere built during its short running time are truly terrifying and on par with any of the bigger budget features made during this time. 
Bonjour Tristesse

A Prayer for Katerina Horovitz • Modlitba pro Kateřinu Horovitzovou (1965)
 
A Prayer for Katerina Horovitz • Modlitba pro Kateřinu Horovitzovou (1965)

A Prayer for Katerina Horovitz • Modlitba pro Kateřinu Horovitzovou (1965)

A Prayer for Katerina Horovitz • Modlitba pro Kateřinu Horovitzovou (1965)
 
A Prayer for Katerina Horovitz • Modlitba pro Kateřinu Horovitzovou (1965)

A Prayer for Katerina Horovitz • Modlitba pro Kateřinu Horovitzovou (1965)

A Prayer for Katerina Horovitz • Modlitba pro Kateřinu Horovitzovou (1965)

A Prayer for Katerina Horovitz • Modlitba pro Kateřinu Horovitzovou (1965)

2 comments:

The Angry Lurker said...

I like the sound of the story, sounds quite interesting viewing.....

d_4 said...

Sounds like I could enjoy it as soon as I put it on.

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