A Life at Stake (1956)
The year is 1941 and the German Nazis rule Bohemia with a free hand. Engineer Otakar Racek is an extremely cautious man who tries to avoid problems at all costs. While some of his colleagues are being arrested by the Gestapo, he receives an offer to become the director of a new department. When he refuses to help the wife of an arrested resistance fighter, his wife Vlasta is shaken. However, she loves him, to the point of even resigning herself to the hatred of Otakar's wealthy mother. One day, Vlasta lets her old acquaintance Ondřej Rýdl, who is on the run from the Gestapo, stay at her house for a few days. The wife passes him off to her husband as a distant relative. However, Otakar succumbs to jealousy and, on his mother's advice, hires a private detective to follow Vlasta. However, the detective is also a Gestapo informant and receives a hefty reward for every arrested resistance fighter...
Director:
Jiří Weiss
Writers:
Jiří Weiss, Karel Josef Beneš.
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Karel Höger as Engineer Otakar Racek |
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Vlasta Chramostová as Vlasta, Racek's wife |
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Jaroslav Someš as Bedřich, the eldest son of the Raceks |
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Jaroslav Drahan as Mirek, the younger son of the Raceks |
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Zdeněk Dítě as resistance fighter Ondřej Rýdl |
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Soňa Neumannová as Racková, Otakar's mother |
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Otomar Krejča as Deputy Rudolf Kadera |
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František Holar as Gestapo |
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Jindřich Narenta as Gestapo |
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Stanislav Neumann as doorman Dobeš |
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Josef Bek as supervisor Josef Frouz |
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Vlasta Vlasáková as Tonička, Frouz's wife |
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Gustav Heverle as eng. Kubišta |
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Josef Mráz as |
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Jana Dítětová as worker Zdenka, Pour's wife |
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Vladimír Hlavatý as Tomeš |
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Jaroslav Mareš as detektiv Brotánek |
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Felix le Breux as owner of the detective agency Alois Barvík |
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Rudolf Deyl as jr. caretaker |
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Věra Kalendová as worker |
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Emil Kavan as chimney-sweep |
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Miloš Vavruška as resistance fighter Berka |
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Marie Kratochvílová as Nazist |
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Marcela Sedláčková as secretary Müllerová |
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Václav Postránecký as Jarda, son of the Frouzs |
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Marta Májová as woman on the street |
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Gustav Hrdlička as clerk |
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Miroslav Moravec as german soldier |
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Martin Skyba as german soldier |
| Directing | Jiří Weiss | Director |
| Costume & Make-Up | František Novotný | Makeup & Hair |
| Art | Stanislav Pavlík | Set Decoration |
| Sound | Jiří Srnka | Original Music Composer |
| Costume & Make-Up | Gustav Hrdlička | Makeup & Hair |
| Camera | Jiří Šafář | Assistant Camera |
| Production | Josef Ouzký | Production Manager |
| Writing | František Daniel | Creative Producer |
| Writing | Jiří Weiss | Screenplay |
| Writing | Karel Josef Beneš | Novel |
| Directing | Milada Mikešová | First Assistant Director |
| Costume & Make-Up | Jarmila Romanová | Costumer |
| Sound | František Belfín | Conductor |
| Writing | Karel Josef Beneš | Screenplay |
| Production | Karel Feix | Executive Producer |
| Costume & Make-Up | Jaroslav Čermák | Makeup & Hair |
| Sound | František Šindelář | Sound |
| Editing | Miroslav Hájek | Editor |
| Costume & Make-Up | Karel Postřehovský | Costume Design |
| Art | Bohuslav Kulič | Production Design |
| Sound | Miloslav Hůrka | Sound |
| Camera | Vladimír Novotný | Director of Photography |
| Production | Vratislav Innemann | Unit Manager |
| Directing | Alena Nová | Second Assistant Director |
| Directing | Hugo Huška | Second Assistant Director |
