How the Film “Pane, vy jste vdova” Almost Wasn‘t Filmed (Portal of Prague)

It’s not common knowledge that the script for one of the best Czech comedies, co-authored by Václav Vorlíček and Miloš Macourek and called “Pane, vy jste vdova!“ (Sir, You are a Widow!), was originally written before the incoming of the “brotherly“ Soviet armies into Czechoslovakia and might not have been filmed at all.

“This film was really created under very dramatic circumstances,” reminisces Václav Vorlíček.. “We began writing the script before August 1968, when Macourek and I were on holiday in Hvar together. We wrote it and when we came back, there came the officers. We already had written the Cancelling of Armies, which sort of got ahead of real events. We lived through great worries that this script will stay in the cupboard and won’t be ever filmed. The normalization hadn’t yet begun and they had already placed a new man into Barrandov, chief editor, a mediocre partyliner. They had about 30 scripts in there at that time and they suddenly couldn’t be realized. These scripts were written in the pre-August euphoria when censorship was cancelled and this guy suddenly had nothing to put into production. One day they called me from Barrandov, stating that I am to meet them. I went alone, Miloš Macourek refused taking part in it – he had weak nerves. That chief editor looked at me in a curious way then flicked through a few pages from the script and I was thinking about what he will want to cross out. “Listen, this army here, the corps of generals – what uniforms would you suggest they had? “ He asks out of nowhere. I immediately knew what was this about and replied: “Theodor Pištěk already has some designs done, a kind of south American junta, they have the uniforms full of gold” “Oh, fine, go ahead and film it then, “he said at last and signed the film for production.“

The film was originally called „Ledvinky paní Steinerové“ (Mrs Steiner’s Kidneys), but the name was changed several times until the authors came up with the name “Pane, vy jste dvojnásobná vdova!“ (Sir, you are double widow!). The chief script editor struck out the word „dvojnásobná“ (double) and that was it!
Date of production: 1970 Direction: Václav Vorlíček Script: Václav Vorlíček a Miloš Macourek Camera: Václav Hanuš Music: Svatopluk Havelka Cast: Iva Janžurová (Evelyna Kelettiová), Jiří Sovák (Rosebud IV.), Olinka Bérová (Molly), Eduard Cupák (Steiner), František Filipovský (Oscar XV.), Čestmír Řanda (general Otis), Jan Libíček (Bobo) and others.

The film was originally called „Ledvinky paní Steinerové“ (Mrs Steiner’s Kidneys), but the name was changed several times until the authors came up with the name “Pane, vy jste dvojnásobná vdova!“ (Sir, you are double widow!). The chief script editor struck out the word „dvojnásobná“ (double) and that was it!

Date of production: 1970

Direction: Václav Vorlíček

Script: Václav Vorlíček a Miloš Macourek

Camera: Václav Hanuš

Music: Svatopluk Havelka

Cast:

Iva Janžurová (Evelyna Kelettiová), Jiří Sovák (Rosebud IV.), Olinka Bérová (Molly), Eduard Cupák (Steiner), František Filipovský (Oscar XV.), Čestmír Řanda (general Otis), Jan Libíček (Bobo) and others.

Berta Štenclová