Spalovac mrtvol (1969)

User Rating:

8.5/10   

Director:

Juraj Herz

Writers:

Ladislav Fuks (novel)
Ladislav Fuks (screenplay)

Release Date:

14 March 1969 (Czechoslovakia)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Music

Plot:

Kopfrkingl enjoys his job at a crematorium in Czechoslovakia in the late 1930s. He likes reading the Tibetan book of the dead...

Plot Keywords:

Hallucination | Female Nudity | Expressionism | Gothic | Waxfigure

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Rudolf Hrusínský	...	Kopfrkingl
Vlasta Chramostová	...	Lakmé / Dagmar
Jana Stehnová	...	Zina
Milos Vognic	...	Mili
Zora Bozinová	...	Reinkeová
Ilja Prachar	...	Walter Reinke
Eduard Kohout	...	Bettleheim
Jirí Menzel	...	Dvorák
Míla Myslíková	...	Hloupá zena
Vladimír Mensík	...	Manzel hloupé zeny
Jirí Lír	...	Strauss
Václav Stekl	...	Hudebník / rozhodcí boxu / majitel panoptika
Helena Anýzová	...	Bledá dívka
Jindrich Narenta	...	Nacista ve smokingu
Marie Rosulková	...	Zena dozadující se rakvicky

Also Known As:

The Cremator (USA)
A Hullaégetö (Hungary) [hu]
Incinérateur de cadavres, L' (France) [fr]
Incinerador de cadáveres, El (Spain) [es]
Leichenverbrenner, Der (West Germany) [de]
Palacz zwlok (Poland) [pl]
Uomo che bruciava i cadaveri, L' (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

95 min | Netherlands:102 min

Country:

Czechoslovakia

Language:

Czech

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15

Filming Locations:

Pardubice, Czech Republic

Company:

Filmové Studio Barrandov

one of the world's great films

This film is hypnotic. The soothing voice of the lead character, coming out of his cherubic always sweetly smiling face, almost lulls the viewer into a serene calm--if not for the fact that we know in our guts that this is the calm a cobra induces in its prey before the kill. This is, after all, Czechoslovakia on the eve of being taken over by Hitler, and the main character runs a crematorium. We know what is coming next. And yet, we cannot take our eyes from the screen; we are filled with foreboding.

Like the best of Fellini, the director, Juraj Herz, frames virtually every scene perfectly; a collection of stills taken from this black-and-white masterpiece could fill a photographic art gallery with a distinguished collection indeed.

How could the holocaust ever have happened in the middle of the most "civilized" culture in the world, the cradle of elegant music? How could rational "civilized" human beings have abetted this monstrosity? This film provides a fable that can help us answer these most important questions. But do not think this movie is some boring treatise on the banal roots of evil. It is a very entertaining horror film that will keep you spellbound.