Brdečka´s Power of Destiny
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The scriptwriter Jiří Brdečka is mainly thought of in connection with the story of Lemonade Joe, however, he rated his own animated films as much better quality. He finished a new one in the year 1968 – a light animated cartoon about the powerful influence of a prophecy on the future. It was called Power of Destiny.
Jiří Brdečka belonged to the most notable characters of the post-war film era. He cooperated with Jan Werich, Jiří Trnka, Karel Zeman and Oldřich Lipský and was born on Christmas Eve in the year 1917 in Hranice na Moravě. Maybe in some places the march of twentieth century progress was in full tilt but in this small town the quiet life of the nineteenth century ruled. Although Brdečka was a citizen of the Austria-Hungarian Monarchy for only a few months, the atmosphere of this era stayed with him for his whole life.
What is interesting is that Jiří Brdečka is usually mentioned in connection with writing the scripts for three Oldřich Lipský comedies, they are: Lemonade Joe, Dinner for Adele and The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians. He himself praised his work on animated films such as Incorrectly Drawn Hen, or Slówce M. However these films gained much greater fame abroad than at home. The Lemonade Man was first written for fun in 1941 when the magazine Ahoj commissioned him to write the series. We can assume by the enthusiasm with which he made more and more adaptations that he was not indifferent to Joe at all – a theatre play, a book with Brdečka´s drawings and finally a movie were made about the series.
Oasis of Peace
Jiří Brdečka became the main screenwriter of Jiří Trnka in the Bratři v Triku Studio in 1948; after some time Jan Werich engaged him to cooperate on Císařův pekař (The Emperor and the Golem). Studio offered an oasis of peace and friendship in the fifties. At that time the studio used to be in a temporary building in Klarov which was really close for Brdečka as he and his wife moved to Valdštejské Square number 2, after the birth of his only daughter. The housekeeper Mrs. Polívková, who, as well as the house, appeared in Věra Chytilová´s film The Very Late Afternoon of a Faun, she used to live opposite them. Věra Chytilová with Karel Ludwig, professor Kotalik and also A.M. Brousil and the painter Jitka Vobořilová all used to live in that house at that time… In 1962 the Brdečkas moved to Sněmovní street where the scriptwriter died after a long heart disease when he was only 64.
Yet let us go back to The Power of Destiny, the animated film made in the year 1968. Two art designers cooperated on the film. The magazine Kino 19/1968 wrote: Rudolf Holan´s deliberately kitsch drawing technique is reminiscent of the pseudo realistic technique of the American adventure film posters. Miroslav Štěpánek´s graphic interpretation is an interesting contrast with the drawing technique. Miroslav Štěpánek also cooperated with Brdečka on his previous film – a rather sinister animated horror Vengeance. Music for the animated story of a fortuneteller and her customer was composed by Jiří Malásek and Jiří Bažant.
Berta Štenclová