''A Jester's Tale'' () is a 1964

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 *Czech (surnam ...

film directed by

Karel Zeman Karel Zeman (3 November 1910 – 5 April 1989) was a Czech film director, artist, production designer and animator. He is best known for directing fantasy films combining live-action footage with animation, including '' Journey to the Beginning ...

. Described by Zeman as a "pseudo-

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

" film, it is an

anti-war An anti-war movement is a social movement in opposition to one or more nations' decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term ''anti-war'' can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conf ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

set during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

. The film combines

live action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games o ...

with

animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

to suggest the artistic style of the engraver

Matthäus Merian Matthäus is a given name or surname. Notable people with the name include: ;Surname * Lothar Matthäus, (born 1961), German former football player and manager ;Given name * Matthäus Aurogallus, Professor of Hebrew at the University of Wittenberg ...

Plot

Cast

* Petr Kostka as Petr * Miloslav Holub as Recruiting officer Matyáš of Babice *

Emília Vášáryová Emília Vášáryová, Doctor Artis Dramaticae ( hon.) (; born 18 May 1942) is a Slovak stage and screen actress, whom '' Variety'' and other publications refer to as the "First Lady of Slovak Theater". During a career of more than five decades ...

as Lenka * Valentina Thielová as Countess Veronika * Karel Effa as Hetman Varga of Koňousov * Eva Šenková as Countess * Eduard Kohout as Count *

Vladimír Menšík Vladimír Menšík (9 October 1929 – 29 May 1988) was a Czech actor and entertainer. He is considered one of the greatest Czech comedians, storytellers and improvisers. Life Vladimír Menšík was born on 9 October 1929 in Ivančice, Czechosl ...

as Court painter * Čestmír Řanda as Watchman * Jiří Holý as Spanish officer * Josef Haukvic as Musketeer *

František Kovářík František () is a masculine Czech and Slovak given name. It is a cognate of Francis, Francisco, François and Franz. It can be also surname (feminine: Františková). Notable people with the name include: Given name Arts * Frank Daniel (Fr ...

as Jester

Reception

The film was a notable success at the 1964

San Francisco International Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by SFFILM, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in international film and vid ...

, winning Best Picture and Best Director. It was also voted Best Film at the 1964

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

IFF in Ethiopia, and was honored in three categories at

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

References

External links

* 1964 films 1964 black comedy films 1964 animated films 1960s historical comedy films 1960s historical adventure films Czechoslovak black-and-white films 1960s Czech-language films Films directed by Karel Zeman Czechoslovak animated films Films with live action and animation Czech historical adventure films Films with screenplays by Pavel Juráček Films set in the 1620s Films set in the 1630s Thirty Years' War films Films with screenplays by Karel Zeman Czech black comedy films 1960s Czech films Czech animated adventure films Czech animated comedy films Czech animated fantasy films Animated films set in the 17th century Animated films about war {{1960s-CzechRepublic-film-stub