Jan S. Kolár (11 May 1896 – 30 October 1973) was a Czech

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

, actor and film historian. He directed a big budget historical film '' St. Wenceslas''.

Life

Jan Stanislav Kolár was born Jan Nepomucký Josef Kohn in a Jewish family in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. The whole family converted to Christianity and changed their surname to Kolár. He studied law at

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

and graduated in 1921. His favorite directors of the silent era were

D. W. Griffith David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the n ...

and

Paul Wegener Paul Wegener (11 December 1874 – 13 September 1948) was a German actor, writer, and film director known for his pioneering role in German expressionist cinema. Acting career At the age of 20, Wegener decided to end his law studies and conce ...

. He started directing films in 1917. The most important surviving Kolár's films are a crime drama '' The Poisoned Light'', a fantasy horror '' The Arrival from the Darkness'', and a historical film '' St. Wenceslas''. He stopped directing after 1929 and later worked as a studio executive in a nationalized film industry and then as a film historian in

Czech Film Archive The National Film Archive (, abb. NFA) is a film archive located in Prague, Czech Republic. It was established in 1943 (From 1943 to 1945 known as Filmový archiv, from 1945 to 1989 Československý filmový ústav, then from 1990 to 1992 Český f ...

. He continued to act in supporting roles until his retirement in 1964. In 2018 a DVD boxset with seven of Kolár's films was released by

Selected filmography

Director and screenwriter

References

External links

* 1896 births 1973 deaths Film directors from Prague People from the Kingdom of Bohemia Czech Jews Czechoslovak film directors Czech silent film directors Czech male screenwriters Czech male film actors Czech male silent film actors 20th-century Czech male actors Jewish Czech actors Silent film screenwriters 20th-century Czech screenwriters Charles University alumni Jewish Czech film people {{CzechRepublic-film-director-stub