''Romeo, Juliet and Darkness'' ( cs, Romeo, Julie a tma) is a 1960

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Jiří Weiss Jiří Weiss (29 March 1913 – 9 April 2004) was a Czech film director, screenwriter, writer, playwright and pedagogue. Life Early life Jiří Weiss was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Prague. He was named after Czech king Jiří z Poděbrad ...

. Inspired by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

'',Howard, Tony "Shakespeare's Cinematic Offshoots" in Shaughnessy, Robert (ed.) "The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture" (Cambridge University Press, 2007, ) p.297 the film is about problems experienced by a young Jewish woman who is hidden from the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

by a student lover. In 1997 a TV adaptation of the same name was directed by Karel Smyczek.

Cast

* Ivan Mistrík as Pavel * Daniela Smutná as Hanka * Jiřina Šejbalová as Pavel's mother *

František Smolík František Smolík (23 January 1891 – 26 January 1972) was a Czechoslovak film actor. He appeared in more than 75 films between 1920 and 1968. Selected filmography *'' The Mystery of the Blue Room'' (1933) * '' The Ruined Shopkeeper'' (1 ...

as Grandfather * Blanka Bohdanová as Kubiasová * Eva Mrázová as Alena *

Karla Chadimová Karla may refer to: People * Karla (name), a feminine given name * Petras Karla (1937–1969), Soviet Olympic rower Places * Karla, Kose Parish, a village in Harju County, Estonia * Karla, Rae Parish, a village in Harju County, Estonia * Kärl ...

as Josefka * Miroslav Svoboda as Würm

Plot

In Nazi-occupied

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

in May 1942, Pavel ( Ivan Mistrík) hides the young Jew Hanka ( Daniela Smutná) to keep her from being sent to a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

. Over the following three weeks the two fall in love. But when Hanka is discovered and Pavel is threatened, she flees into the streets in the middle of

Operation Anthropoid On 27 May 1942 in Prague, Reinhard Heydrichthe commander of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), acting governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and a principal architect of the Holocaustwas attacked and wounded in an assassinatio ...

—the Czech

government-in-exile A government in exile (abbreviated as GiE) is a political group that claims to be a country or semi-sovereign state's legitimate government, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile u ...

's plot to assassinate

Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( ; ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a high-ranking German SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He was chief of the Reich Security Main Office (inclu ...

—and is killed.

Reception

''Romeo, Juliet, and Darkness'' won the Golden Seashell at the 1960 San Sebastian International Film Festival. It also won the Grand Prix at the 1960

Taormina International Film Festival Taormina Film Fest (TFF) is a film festival that began in 1955 under the name Rassegna Cinematografica Internazionale di Messina e Taormina. The exhibition, which moved permanently to Taormina in 1971, has hosted over the years many stars of inter ...

Notes

External links

* 1960 films 1960 drama films 1960s Czech-language films Films directed by Jiří Weiss Czech war drama films Films based on Romeo and Juliet 1960s war drama films Czech World War II films Czechoslovak World War II films 1960s Czech films {{War-drama-film-stub