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Karel Lamač

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Karel Lamač
Born(1897-01-27)27 January 1897
Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic)
Died2 August 1952(1952-08-02) (aged 55)
Hamburg, West Germany (now Germany)
Other namesCarl Lamac
Occupation(s)Film director, actor, screenwriter, film producer
Years active1919–1952

Karel Lamač (27 January 1897 – 2 August 1952) was a Czech film director, actor, screenwriter, producer and singer.[1] He directed more than 100 films in Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Life

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Lamač was born 27 January 1897 in Prague, Austria-Hungary. His parents were Karel Lamač sr. (1863–1938), opera singer and a pharmacist, and Františka Lamačová (née Prusíková, 1860–1949).[2] In his childhood Lamač was interested in pharmacy, electrical engineering, stage magic and acting. Before WWI he went to apprentice in camera manufacturer company Ernemann in Dresden.[2] During the war he was a combat cameraman. After the war he became a technical director of film laboratory in Excelsiorfilm. He started working in movies in 1918, first as an actor, later as a writer and a director. Among his best movies of this period are crime drama The Poisoned Light, comedy Catch Him! and drama White Paradise. In 1923 he wrote a book How to write a film libretto.[2] His frequent collaborators were actress Anny Ondra, cinematographer Otto Heller and screenwriter Václav Wasserman.[2] In 1926 he co-founded a film studio Kavalírka where he made his movies until it burned down in 1929.[2]

In 1930 he founded a production company Ondra-Lamač Film with his then girlfriend Anny Ondra in Berlin.[3] During 1930s he was making movies in Germany, Czechoslovakia, France and Austria. After the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia he left to Netherlands to make De Spooktrein and then to United Kingdom where he joined Czechoslovak Army. He served in RAF until 1941 and in infantry division until 1946. He made war documentaries and three feature movies during WWII.[2] After the war he made two movies in France. In 1947 then went to USA where he worked on technical innovations of color film and camera lenses. In 1951 he returned to Germany and directed his last film The Thief of Bagdad.[2]

He died in Hamburg, West Germany due to serious problems with his kidneys.[2][4]

Selected filmography

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Director

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Year Title Notes
1919 The Furious Bridegroom Short film. Considered lost.
1919 Chord of Death Considered lost.
1920 Gilly in Prague for the First Time
1921 The Poisoned Light
1923 The Lumberjack
1924 White Paradise
1925 Catch Him!
1925 Karel Havlíček Borovský Considered lost.
1925 The Lantern
1926 The Countess from Podskalí Considered lost.
1926 The Good Soldier Schweik
1926 Schweik at the Front
1926 Never the Twain Considered lost.
1927 The Old Dad Bezoušek
1927 A Flower of the Šumava Mountains Considered lost.
1927 Sweet Josefine Considered lost.
1928 Eve's Daughters
1928 The First Kiss
1928 Suzy Saxophone
1928 Der erste Kuß
1929 Sin Considered lost.
1929 Sinful and Sweet
1929 Sin of a Beautiful Woman
1929 The Girl with the Whip
1929 The Caviar Princess
1930 Das Mädel aus U.S.A.
1929 Fairground People
1930 Imperial and Royal Field Marshal
1930 K. und K. Feldmarschall German version of Imperial and Royal Field Marshal
1930 Monsieur le maréchal French version of Imperial and Royal Field Marshal
1930 Eine Freundin so goldig wie Du
1931 Him and His Sister
1931 Er und seine Schwester German version of Him and His Sister
1931 The Squeaker
1931 Business Under Distress
1931 Die Fledermaus
1931 Wehe, wenn er losgelassen
1931 La Chauve-Souris [fr] Co-directed with Pierre Billon
1932 Mamsell Nitouche
1932 A Night in Paradise
1932 Une nuit au paradis
1932 Lelíček in the Services of Sherlock Holmes
1932 The Undertaker
1932 Die grausame Freundin
1932 Faut-il les marier?
1932 The Ringer
1932 Kiki
1932 Baby
1933 Daughter of the Regiment
1933 La fille du régiment French version of Daughter of the Regiment
1933 Fräulein Hoffmanns Erzählungen
1933 The Good Tramp Bernášek
1933 Jindra, the Countess Ostrovín
1933 The Love Hotel
1933 Orchesterprobe Short film
1934 So ein Theater! Short film
1934 Der verhexte Scheinwerfer
1934 The Switched Bride Short film
1934 L'amour en cage
1934 Karneval und Liebe
1934 Little Dorrit
1934 Frasquita
1934 The Brenken Case
1934 Polská krev
1934 Polish Blood German version of Polská krev
1934 Nezlobte dědečka
1935 Knockout
1935 Großreinemachen
1935 I Love All the Women
1935 J'aime toutes les femmes French version of Ich liebe alle Frauen
1935 The White Horse Inn
1935 The Young Count
1936 The Postman from Longjumeau
1936 The Bashful Casanova
1936 Flitterwochen
1936 On the Green Meadow
1936 Where the Lark Sings
1937 The Hound of the Baskervilles
1937 A Girl from the Chorus
1937 Vor Liebe wird gewarnt
1937 Peter im Schnee
1937 Grounds for Divorce
1937 Cause for Divorce German version of Důvod k rozvodu
1937 The Vagabonds
1937 Pat und Patachon im Paradies
1937 Florentine
1938 Immer wenn ich glücklich bin..!
1938 Forbidden Love
1938 Frühlingsluft
1938 Ducháček Will Fix It
1938 The Lantern
1938 Watch Out for the Ghosts
1939 Place de la Concorde
1939 Slávka, Don't Give In!
1939 U pokladny stál...
1939 De Spooktrein
1940 Narcisse
1943 Schweik's New Adventures
1943 They Met in the Dark
1944 It Happened One Sunday
1947 La Colère des dieux
1947 One Night at the Tabarin
1952 The Thief of Bagdad

Actor

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Producer

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References

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  1. ^ "Karel Lamač". csfd.cz. Archived from the original on 1 September 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Lamač Karel (1897–1952) Inventář" (PDF) (in Czech). Národní filmový archiv. 1997.
  3. ^ "Funny Ladies 1 (2002)". Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  4. ^ Český hraný film I 1898–1930. Praha: NFA. 1995.
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