St. Wenceslas ( cs, Svatý Václav) is a 1930 Czechoslovak historical film about

Saint Wenceslas Wenceslaus I ( cs, Václav ; c. 907 – 28 September 935 or 929), Wenceslas I or ''Václav the Good'' was the Duke ('' kníže'') of Bohemia from 921 until his death, probably in 935. According to the legend, he was assassinated by his younger ...

by Jan S. Kolár It was the most expensive Czech film to date, with the largest set constructed in Europe to accommodate an all-star cast of over a hundred, together with 5,000 extras for the lavish battle scenes.

Cast

Zdeněk Štěpánek Zdeněk Štěpánek (22 September 1896 – 20 June 1968) was a Czech actor. He appeared in 65 films between 1922 and 1968. Selected filmography * '' St. Wenceslas'' (1930) * '' Paradise Road'' (1936) * '' The World Is Ours'' (1937) * '' Skelet ...

Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia Wenceslaus I ( cs, Václav ; c. 907 – 28 September 935 or 929), Wenceslas I or ''Václav the Good'' was the Duke ('' kníže'') of Bohemia from 921 until his death, probably in 935. According to the legend, he was assassinated by his younger ...

* Jan W. Speerger as

Boleslaus I, Duke of Bohemia Boleslaus I ( cs, Boleslav I. Ukrutný) (915 – 972), a member of the Přemyslid dynasty, was ruler (''Knyaz, kníže'', "duke") of the Duchy of Bohemia from 935 to his death. He is notorious for the murder of his elder brother Wenceslaus I, D ...

Vera Baranovskaya Vera Vsevolodovna Baranovskaya (russian: Вера Всеволодовна Барановская; 1885 – 7 December 1935) was a Russian Empire and Soviet actress. She performed in more than twenty films between 1916 and 1935. Biography Barano ...

Ludmila of Bohemia Ludmila of Bohemia (c. 860 – 15 September 921) is a Czech people, Czech saint and martyr venerated by the Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox and the Roman Catholics. She was born in Mělník as the daughter of the Sorbs, Sorbian pri ...

Dagny Servaes Dagny Servaes (10 March 1894 – 10 July 1961) was a German-Austrian stage and film actress. In the theatre she appeared in the productions of Max ReinhardtStyan p.89 and Berthold Brecht. Servaes appeared in around sixty films during her career, ...

Drahomíra Drahomíra of Stodor ( cs, Drahomíra ze Stodor; – died after 934 or 936) was Duchess consort of Bohemia from 915 to 921, wife of the Přemyslid duke Vratislaus I. She also acted as regent of the Duchy of Bohemia from 921 to 924 during the m ...

Josef Loskot Josef may refer to *Josef (given name) *Josef (surname) * ''Josef'' (film), a 2011 Croatian war film *Musik Josef Musik Josef is a Japanese manufacturer of musical instruments. It was founded by Yukio Nakamura, and is the only company in Japan spe ...

as Skeř * Erna Ženíšková as Radmila * Jan S. Kolár as

Bořivoj I, Duke of Bohemia Bořivoj I (, la, Borzivogius, c. 852 – c. 889) was the first historically documented Duke of Bohemia and progenitor of the Přemyslid dynasty. His reign over the Duchy of Bohemia is believed to have started about the year 870, but in this er ...

* Gustav Svojsík as Methodius *

Jindřich Edl Jindřich is a given name. It is the Czech version of the English name Henry. People with the name include: *Jindřich Bačkovský (1912–2000), Czech physicist * Jindřich Balcar (born 1950), Czechoslovak ski jumper who competed from 1974 to 19 ...

as Bohemian Elder *

Josef Rovenský Josef Rovenský (17 April 1894 – 5 November 1937) was a Czech-Jewish Siegbert Salomon Prawer, ''Between Two Worlds: The Jewish Presence in German and Austrian Film, 1910-1933'', Berghahn Books (2007), p. 213 film actor and director. He app ...

as Barbarian

Production

Funding

The film initially received a loan of 1 million crowns by the government of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

— half of the film's original budget. However the budget has been increased to 4 million crowns due to filming in winter. When the film was on a verge of being terminated the government lent the production another 1 million crowns. The prime minister

František Udržal František Udržal () (3 January 1866 in Dolní Roveň, Kingdom of Bohemia – 25 April 1938 in Prague) was a Czechoslovak politician. A member and leader of the powerful Agrarian Party, his political career started as member of the local Die ...

also provided military equipment as well as people from the state services to finish the movie.

Shooting

The shooting started in September 1929. Exteriors were shot in

Prokopské údolí Prokop Valley ( cs, Prokopské údolí) is a recreational area in southwestern Prague, located in the districts of Barrandov, Holyně, Řeporyje, Stodůlky and Hlubočepy. It encompasses two streams, Dalejský potok and Prokopský potok, the la ...

Šumava The Bohemian Forest, known in Czech as Šumava () and in German as Böhmerwald, is a low mountain range in Central Europe. Geographically, the mountains extend from Plzeň Region and South Bohemia in the Czech Republic to Austria and Bavaria i ...

primeval forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

Křivoklát Křivoklát (german: Pürglitz) is a market town in Rakovník District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 700 inhabitants. It is known for the Křivoklát Castle. Administrative parts Villages of Častonice and Pí ...

Brdy Brdy is a range of hills in the Czech Republic, forming a long massif stretching for c. 60 km southwest from Prague. The northern section of the Brdy is called "Hřebeny" and features one narrow ridge (highest elevation Písek - 690 m). The m ...

and

Unhošť Unhošť is a town in Kladno District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 5,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zones, ...

. Sets of Wenceslaus' and Boleslaus' castles were built at the Strahov Stadium based on designs by Ludvík Hradský, who studied historical sources to be historically accurate. Large reflectors needed to be built for shooting the night scenes. The generators and planes were provided by the Ministry of Defence. Some scenes were filmed using five cameras. In December the production moved to

Vinohrady Královské Vinohrady (in English literally "Royal Vineyards" german: Königliche Weinberge) is a cadastral district in Prague. It is so named because the area was once covered in vineyards dating from the 14th century. Vinohrady lies in the muni ...

's A-B Ateliers for interior scenes. The last big battle scene with Radslav was shot in March 1930. The whole film was shot over 82 filming days.

Post production

Orchestral music was composed by

Oskar Nedbal Oskar Nedbal (26 March 1874 – 24 December 1930) was a Czech violist, composer, and conductor of classical music. Early life Nedbal was born in Tábor, in southern Bohemia. He studied the violin at the Prague Conservatory under Antonín Benne ...

and

Jaroslav Křička Jaroslav Křička (; 27 August 1882 in Kelč, Moravia – 23 January 1969 in Prague) was a Czech people, Czech composer, Conducting, conductor, and Music education, music teacher. He was the brother of poet Petr Křička:de:Petr_Křička, e...

. It was originally thought that the music will be synchronized with the movie, but the lack of funds proved this impossible. 40-piece orchestra accompanied the movie at its premiere. Some of the later screenings were with non-original music.

Release

The film was planned to be released in 1929, 1000 years after the death of Wenceslaus. Finally released on 3 April 1930, the film wasn't a commercial success, because by that time sound films already replaced silent films in popularity. Another reason was that people were already tired of Wenceslaus celebrations that were occurring since 1929. The most of the film viewers were students at projections for schools who paid reduced admission fees.

Reconstruction

The film was reconstructed by František Balšán under the director Kolár's supervision in 1971. The music score, long considered lost, was discovered in

Czech Radio Český rozhlas (ČRo) is the public radio broadcaster of the Czech Republic operating since 1923. It is the oldest radio broadcaster in continental Europe and the second oldest in Europe after the BBC. The service broadcasts throughout the Cz ...

archives. The film was screened in

Rudolfinum The Rudolfinum is a building in Prague, Czech Republic. It is designed in the neo-renaissance style and is situated on Jan Palach Square on the bank of the river Vltava. Since its opening in 1885, it has been associated with music and art. Curr ...

accompanied by live orchestra on 28 September 2010. The projection was telecasted live by

Czech Television Czech Television ( cs, Česká televize, italics=no ; abbreviation: ČT) is a public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting seven channels. Established after the Velvet Revolution in 1992, it is the successor to Czechoslov ...

. The film was released on DVD in the same year.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:St. Wenceslas 1930 films 1930s historical drama films 1930s Czech-language films Czech historical drama films Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia Czechoslovak drama films 1930 drama films Czech epic films