Vladimír Smutný

Vladimír Smutný

Birth : 1942-07-13, Prague, Protektorát Cechy a Morava [now Czech Republic]

Profile

Vladimír Smutný

Movies

Bethlehem Light
Director of Photography
A well-known writer now aged 75 is aware of his increasing age and the risk that his literary style will grow worn. His everyday existence is enlivened by characters from his stories, who tend to enter reality in unexpected ways, at various stages of completeness and with all kinds of strange demands.
Kostýmy: Irena Greifová
Self
Kostýmy: Irena Greifová
Camera Operator
Poslední aristokratka
Director of Photography
The Painted Bird
Director of Photography
A young boy wanders Eastern Europe during World War II.
Zlatý podraz
Director of Photography
Tátova volha
Camera Supervisor
Unexpectedly widowed costume designer Eva discovers a child's drawing that sends her and her daughter on a road trip to uncover a family secret.
Barefoot
Cinematography
Story of a small boy is forced to move out of Prague during World War 2 to a small village of Slavonice where he meets the rest of his family. He needs to make new friends and get used to a new life which is immensely different from what this city boy was used to.
Decibely lásky
Director of Photography
Three Brothers
Director of Photography
Three brothers leave their home to see the world. During their journey, young men as by miracle enter into famous fairy tales (Little Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Twelve Months) and face traps, unexpected moments and even love in a story full of humor and songs.
Všiváci
Director of Photography
Forbidden Empire
Director of Photography
Early 18th century. Cartographer Jonathan Green undertakes a scientific voyage from Europe to the East. Having passed through Transylvania and crossed the Carpathian Mountains, he finds himself in a small village lost in impassible woods. Nothing but chance and heavy fog could bring him to this cursed place. People who live here do not resemble any other people which the traveler saw before that. The villagers, having dug a deep moat to fend themselves from the rest of the world, share a naive belief that they could save themselves from evil, failing to understand that evil has made its nest in their souls and is waiting for an opportunity to gush out upon the world.
Tender Waves
Director of Photography
The congenial Vojta is bashful and his family is batty. His short-tempered father, who once failed to swim the English Channel, wants him to be a competing swimmer and his loving mother, a former child ice revue star, sees a talented pianist in her son. But Vojta has completely different priorities - most of all his red-haired classmate Ela, an enchanting synchronized swimmer who is leaving for Paris in November. If Vojta doesn't do something radical, and fast, Ela will disappear behind the Iron Curtain forever. The year is 1989.
Tender Waves
Cinematography
The congenial Vojta is bashful and his family is batty. His short-tempered father, who once failed to swim the English Channel, wants him to be a competing swimmer and his loving mother, a former child ice revue star, sees a talented pianist in her son. But Vojta has completely different priorities - most of all his red-haired classmate Ela, an enchanting synchronized swimmer who is leaving for Paris in November. If Vojta doesn't do something radical, and fast, Ela will disappear behind the Iron Curtain forever. The year is 1989.
Líbáš jako ďábel
Director of Photography
Flower Buds
Cinematography
Flower Buds tells the story of the gradual breakdown of a family living in a small town. Each character lives according to his or her own ideals. Agata wants a happy life far from home, fully aware that her only hope is to escape and therefore betray those close to her. Honza believes in the purity and power of love, regardless of the circumstances under which it is born. Kamila looks confidently to the future and does not intend to accept the misery of the present. The only Jarda knows that he will not change the world or himself. Aware of his weakness, he does not even try. In his mind, of course, his addiction to slot machines, which has led to a nearly impossible situation, is as certain as most gamblers' belief of an imminent win. The real and convincing attempt to rescue his family comes when it is too late. It is just a futile gesture, a desperate last ditch effort.
Kooky
Cinematography
Young Ondra has asthma and so his parents throw away his favourite toy: a musty old stuffed bear named Kooky. That night Ondra dreams that Kooky is determined to find his way back home from the dump. In the boy's fantasy, the bear gets lost in a forest occupied by strange animals and remarkable beings that he never heard of while living on the toy shelf in Ondra's room. And of course even in this small imaginary world, true good exists as does real evil, which Kooky must face up to in order to become a real hero.
Oko ve zdi
Director of Photography
Tobruk
Director of Photography
It is the story of Jiri and Jan, two Czech soldiers, battling alongside the allied forces against the Germans, during World War II in Tobruk, Libya. Jiri Pospichal, eighteen years old, signs up as a volunteer in the Czechoslovak army. His naive ideas about heroism are rawly confronted with the hell of the African desert, complicated relationships in his unit and the ubiquitous threat of death.
Empties
Director of Photography
Czech literature teacher Josef Tkaloun, who is past retirement age, realises one day that he no longer understands his pupils, and so he quits… dramatically. What he does not predict is that in doing this he will lose his sense of place in society.
The Headsman
Director of Photography
Central Europe, early 16th century: two childhood friends, Martin & Georg, find themselves on rival sides of a religious war with both of them struggling to do the right thing.
Dark Blue World
Director of Photography
Lt. Franta Slama is a top pilot in the Czech Air Force who is assigned to train a promising young flier, Karel Vojtisek, and they soon become friends. When Nazi Germany invades Czechoslovakia in 1939, they both reject the authority of their new leaders and escape to England where they join other Czech exiles in the RAF. While flying a mission over England, Karel crash lands and happens upon the farmhouse of Susan, a young woman whose husband is in the Navy. Karel soon falls head over heels for Susan but, while they enjoy a brief fling, in time Susan decides she prefers the company of the older and more worldly Franta. As Franta and Karel struggle to maintain their friendship despite their romantic rivalry.
Love Lies Bleeding
Director of Photography
Jack the Ripper terrorizes London in 1888. The young talented journalist Catherine Winwood begins her first job. The relationship between Catherine and the surgeon Jonathan Stevens threatens to shatter, as her fiancé may be involved in the gruesome murderer of young prostitutes in the Whitechapel district. But Inspector Frederick Abberline arrests another suspected surgeon ..
The Manor
Director of Photography
The Manor, a dark funny version of Akira Kurosawa's " Rashomon". During a snowstorm, Patrick Roarke, a manservant, is found dead at the bottom of the main staircase in a gothic English mansion. Inspector Hatcher is sent to investigate the death. When he arrives, he finds a household consisting of five women. When questioned by the inspector, each of the women tells a different story, all of which are illustrated by flashback scenes showing the events as related by that particular person. Everybody seems to protect somebody and the inspector becomes increasingly intoxicated as he tries to untangle the web of lies in his endeavour to find out the truth.
Kolya
Director of Photography
After a fictitious marriage with a Russian emigrant, Cellisten Louka, a Czech man, must suddenly take responsibility for her son. However, it’s not long before the communication barrier is broken between the two new family members.
The Vampire Wedding
Cinematography
Young English gentleman Richard travels with his uncle Archibald to Prague, Czech kingdom. There he meets a beautiful girl Olivia, a young noblewoman with a secret. They fall in love with each other but he doesn't know Olivia is a companion of evil count Kronberg, ruler of pack of Prague vampires.
Kamarád do deště II – Příběh z Brooklynu
Camera Operator
Discopríbeh 2
Director of Photography
When the Stars Were Red
Director of Photography
In 1950, Jozef watched the communists assume control over his native Hungary. He was too young to have an opinion about it, but he was mightily impressed all the same. Now it is 1968, and he is a young man. When the Russian tanks come rolling through his village on their way to suppress the stirrings of freedom in Prague, he does what he can to ensure that he's in good odor with those who will inevitably come out on top. This meandering political drama is apparently an exploration of opportunism, but reviewers gave it low marks for clarity of exposition.
Jen o rodinných záležitostech
Director of Photography
Life in communist Czechoslovakia in the early 1950s and the punishments for going against the state.
The Gentle Barbarian
Cinematography
A commemorative and essayistic meditative piece on the Prague quarter Libeň during the 1950s.
Funeral Ceremony
Camera Operator
Matylda (Jaroslava Ticha), who lives in the Czech countryside, is trying to arrange burial plans for her dying husband, Jan (Ludvik Kroner). While Matylda hopes to have a funeral for Jan in the small town where they once lived, there are complications. Years earlier, Jan spoke out against the Communist government and was consequently expelled from the town. When Matylda fails to convince a local politician to allow the ceremony, she uses her husband's funeral as a public show of dissent.
The Damned House of Hajn
Cinematography
Sonya is the heiress to the riches of a Czech noble family—the Hajns. Petr, a social climber marries her, ignoring some shady goings-on—in particular, an insane uncle who prowls the mansion believing himself invisible, a peccadillo the family indulges. The uncle’s stalking every corner of the house, popping out of cupboards and out from behind curtains slowly takes its toll on the young bride.
Kamarád do deště
Camera Operator
Forbidden Dreams
Director of Photography
Leo Popper is a happy family man living in rural Bohemia in the years preceding the Nazi invasion. Out of economic necessity he moves with his family to the big city and becomes an enterprising vacuum cleaner salesman. There he embarks on a series of adulterous adventures, has encounters with boxing pros and famous portrait artists, and schemes to purchase the perfect pond to fulfill his passion for fishing. When the Nazis gain control, the comedy turns sour - he loses his lake, his job, and finally, his family.
Discopříběh
Director of Photography
Winning Quietly
Director of Photography
Comedy about a group of village boys and in one selfless father who wants his players to do the real football.
End of the Lonely Farm Berhof
Director of Photography
Drama set on an isolated farm on the Czech-Polish border immediately after the end of WWII.
Scalpel, Please
Music
A psychological drama exploring the notion of the doctor as a moral authority, who within the framework of their everyday work must face questions of life and death. The film is adapted from a novel by Valja Stýblová, in which the author draws upon her personal experiences as a former neurosurgeon. The protagonist of this drama is an ageing professor, based at a Prague neurological clinic, who is haunted by issues concerning his own principles and values, and also by the case of a young patient, Víťa, afflicted with an inoperable tumour.
Scalpel, Please
Camera Operator
A psychological drama exploring the notion of the doctor as a moral authority, who within the framework of their everyday work must face questions of life and death. The film is adapted from a novel by Valja Stýblová, in which the author draws upon her personal experiences as a former neurosurgeon. The protagonist of this drama is an ageing professor, based at a Prague neurological clinic, who is haunted by issues concerning his own principles and values, and also by the case of a young patient, Víťa, afflicted with an inoperable tumour.
Skandál v Gri-Gri baru
Camera Operator
Dívka světových parametrů
Camera Operator
Past na kachnu
Camera Operator
Taxi driver Koukal (Miroslav Machácek) is stopped by the police for a routine traffic check. In the boot of his car the police find the body of a naked man. Koukal is arrested even though he claims he knows nothing about it. The case is assigned to Major Mlynár (Milan Sandhaus). The police identify the corpse as that of an Austrian citizen called Mitrik. Koukal has been regularly driving people interested in gambling to a secret gaming den. The police are put onto the gambling den by another taxi driver, who admits that he drove Mitrik there. Mlynár and officer cadet Pecka (Ivan Vyskocil) feign interest in gambling and visit the gaming den incognito.
How to Wake a Princess
Camera Operator
The king Dalimil and the queen Eliska waited to see a longed-for offspring - a daughter Ruzenka. But Eliska's envious and bad sister Melánie curses her. When Ruzenka becomes 17 years old she will prick her finger and she will fall asleep for ages together with the entire kingdom.
How to Pull Out a Whale's Tooth
Camera Operator
Vasek, 8 years old boy is desperate to find a new "father" for his mother.
A Nice Plate of Spinach
Camera Operator
The heroes of this absurd comedy, full of confusion and humor are Dzharda Zemanek and Frantisek Liska.
Přikázaný směr jízdy
Camera Operator
Smoke on the Potato Fields
Camera Operator
In this character study by Czech director Frantisek Vlacil, a stout middle-aged physician whose marriage has come apart establishes a practice in a small town. Gradually he's drawn into the lives of his patients—a childless couple, a pregnant girl with a stern mother, the son of a duck farmer—and each relationship reveals a bit more about him and the idyllic but insular community.
We'll Kick Up a Fuss Tomorrow, Darling...
Camera Operator
Mr. Novak tells a lie to his neighbor Mrs. Bartackova that her husband is unfaithful to her and that is how it all started.
Secluded, Near Woods
Camera Operator
The Lavicka's, a Czech family from the city, rents a house in the country with the option to buy. However, old Mr Komarek seems reluctant to sell the house as they agreed.
Profesoři za školou
Camera Operator
This Is How Love Begins...
Camera Operator
Do We Match Each Other, Darling?
Camera Operator
Marta (Jana Brejchová) and Viktor (Vlastimil Brodský) celebrate the tenth anniversary of their wedding half-heartedly. They both think they don't suit together. While visiting Marta's friend Alena (Iva Janzurová), who just got married for the third time, they learn an interesting thing. It was a computer which selected a husband for Alena and she claims she is happy. The couple gets off after certain hesitation to a cybernetic institute, where the computer tells them that living together is a risk for them. At the same time the computer selects them ideal partners - Mrs Tuchlová, a doctor for Viktor, and Petr Karát, a music composer for Marta. By a coincidence Viktor and Marta meet wrong people.
Záhada obrazu sv. Šebestiána
Camera Operator
We, the Lost Girls
Assistant Camera
Zofie and Dominika, two girls of very different temperaments, become friends during hop-picking volunteer work in the summer. Zofie (Jaroslava Schallerová) is serious to the point of reticence and she is delighted with her friendship with Dominika. For the self-assured and superficial Dominika (Irena Svárová) the whole thing is just a momentary whim. When she leaves the work camp before everybody else, she doesn't even say goodbye to Zofie. The two girls meet again after the holidays as first-year students at medical school, and become close again during the nursing techniques class.
Vím, že jsi vrah...
Assistant Camera
Five Men and One Heart
Assistant Camera
In modern hospitals are carried out intensive cardiac surgery. Daily operations individually comments attendant Cajthaml ... Stylized ,, dream "scene are combined with documentary footage of actual operations, which were filmed at the University Hospital in Hradec Králové. The unique cinematic experiment theater and TV director after only a few years remind viewers.
Slasti Otce vlasti
Assistant Camera
The young Prince Charles (Jaromír Hanzlík), the future King of his country Charles IV, is being educated at the French court in the company of his fiancée Blanche (Daniela Kolárová). One day he receives a summons from his father John of Luxembourg (Milos Kopecký) in Italy. He leaves for Italy accompanied by a deputation from Bohemia. On the way the prince's company fights a battle with armed Milanese against heavy odds. Thanks to Charles's perspicacity, the prince's almost naked soldiers win through. In Lucca in Italy Charles joins his father, and here he experiences an amorous adventure and escapes from the traps laid by the Italian rebels.
The Most Beautiful Age
Assistant Camera
An artist's studio is descended upon by a group of retired men and a young mother who agree to model in the nude for money. Comedy ensues as the students and the local bureaucracy react to the models, all in need of extra money. Several running gags border on slapstick as the officials and the students don't know what to do with the nude models.