Czech fairy tale film master Vaclav Vorlicek dies

Director Vaclav Vorlicek died on 5. February 2019 of lung cancer at the age of 88 years. His fairy tale film Tri Orisky pro Popelku (Three Wishes for Cinderella) became a tradition of TV Christmas in the Czech Republic, through Germany to Norway.

Vaclav Vorlicek is among the most successful Czech film directors and screenwriters. His most frequent collaborator was a writer and a screenwriter Milos Macourek.



From 1951 to 1956 he studied directing at FAMU (film school). His graduate film was called Direktiva. He subsequently joined the Barrandov Film Studio as an assistant director. His first independent film was a children's color film Pripad Lupinek.

Breakthrough was a parody on comic books called Who Wants to Kill Jessie?/Kdo chce zabit Jessii? Remastered with Olga Schoberova, Jiri Sovak and Karel Saudek's art department. The film was also appraised on foreign festivals, including Trieste, where other Vorlicek's films starred. Those were You Are a Widow, Sir/Pane, vy jste vdova! Remastered and Girl on the Broomstick/Divka na kosteti, which almost got its American version. Unfortunately, the project ended with the arrival of Soviet tanks in 1968.

In the time of normalization, Vorlicek paid a tax on mandatory regime involvement with the Vino trilogy (Bourlive Vino, Zrale Vino, and Young Wine/Mlade vino Remastered). At the same time, he was filming famous fairytales Tri Orisky pro Popelku (Three Wishes for Cinderella), The Prince and the Evening Star/Princ a Vecernice, and Sleeping Beauty/Jak se budi princezny Remastered. Together with Milos Macourek, he got involved in a television co-production series, headed by the legendary Arabela, and followed by Letajici Cestmir and Krecek v nocni kosili.

Among his colleagues, Vorlicek was considered a good companion and a tireless narrator. 

Other Films:

Who Wants to Kill Jessie?/Kdo chce zabit Jessii? Remastered , 1966 + script + story sketch

The End of Agent W4C/Konec agenta W4C prostrednictvim psa pana Foustky, 1967 + script

You Are a Widow, Sir/Pane, vy jste vdova! Remastered, 1970 + script + story sketch

Girl on the Broomstick/Divka na kosteti, 1971 + script + story sketch

Tri Orisky pro Popelku (Three Wishes for Cinderella), 1973 + script

How to Drown Dr. Mracek/Jak utopit dr. Mracka Remastered, 1974 + script

Dva muzi hlasi prichod, 1975 + script + story sketch

Bourlive Vino, 1976 + script

What About Having Spinach/Coz takhle dat si spenat Remastered, 1977 + script

Sleeping Beauty/Jak se budi princezny Remastered, 1977

he Prince and the Evening Star/Princ a Vecernice, 1978 + script

Arabela, 1979 (TV series)

Zrale Vino, 1981

Zelena Vlna, 1982

Letajici Cestmir, 1983

Rumburak, 1984 (6.3.2019 Remastered)

It's Not Me/Ja nejsem ja, 1985 + script

Young Wine/Mlade vino Remastered, 1986

Dedeckuv Odkaz, 1987

Krecek v nocni kosili, 1988

Arabela se vraci aneb Rumburak kralem Rise pohadek, 1993

The Magic Book/Kouzelny mesec, 1996 + collaboration on the script

Ptak Ohnivak, 1997

Queen of the Lake/Jezerni kralovna, 1997

Thomas and the Falcon King/Kral sokolu, 2000

Max, Sally and the Magic Phone/Mach, Sebestova a kouzelne sluchatko, 2001 + script

On je zena!, 2005

Little Witch on a Broomstick/Saxana a Lexikon kouzel, 2011 + script

2019Czech famous directors

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