Czechoslovakia - Decoration for outstanding Labour awarded to Czechoslovak film director and Screenwriter Vladimír Čech , born Vladimír Přikryl, a prolific screenwriter and director, he was decorated for his outstanding work in 1965.
Czechoslovakia - Decoration for outstanding Labour in presentation case complete with tunic ribbon bar - Bronze, 33mm x 50.5mm inclusive of wreath suspension. Presentation case lid with Czech Socialist Republic coat-of-arms and inscribed “ZA VYNIKAJICI PRACI” (For Excellent Work), the base with two official paper labels, the first with roll number 10/737, the second with the recipient’s name “Vladimír Čech - Přikryl”
Condition: Extremely Fine
Vladimír Čech was born as Vladimír Přikryl on October 25, 1914 in České Budějovice. He began studying at the Prague grammar school, where, based on an audition, both directors Vladislav Vančura and Svatopluk Innemann chose him for the role of the student Čermák in the drama BEFORE GRADUATION (1932).
A year later, Vladislav Vančura remembered him again as a dancer in his next drama ON THE SUNNY SIDE (1933). He did not study medicine at Charles University (1933 – 1937) and at the same time worked at the Institute of Biology. He became an adept of theater direction in D 34 EF Buriana. However, towards the end of the 1930s, he (and like many other young people from the film BEFORE GRADUATION) began to devote himself professionally to film work.
With EF Burian, he wrote the screenplay for the film based on Božena Benešová VĚRA LUKÁŠOVÁ (1939) and began as an adept director in the film Aktuality (1938 – 1939), during the Second World War he made a living as a theater, radio and film critic (e.g. in "České slov " or "A – Zet"), author of a few radio plays, artistic director of the Live Stage in Prague (1943), at the same time tried his hand at the position of author of the theme, screenplay and direction of the short film STRÄVÍČKY SLEČNY PAVLÍNY (1941) and wrote the screenplay for Hašler's comedy with Josef Mach THE HOUSE GUEST (1942).
Immediately in 1945, he filmed documentaries about the liberation of Buchenwald, the Court of Nations in Nuremberg, and used the material of war in the authorship and direction of the medium-length film I DON'T UNDERSTAND (1947). He rarely returned to the documents later (TAX MORALITY or BEST TIP).
In the years 1948 – 1980, he worked at the Barrandov Film Studio as a scriptwriter (e.g. THE WILD BAR, THE BLACK FLAG, THE ROOSTER SCARED OF DEATH, THIEVES AMONG US, THE HOLY SINNER, THE AFFAIRS OF MY WIFE, THE KEY, EVENTS IN ISTANBUL, etc.) and mainly as director. Vladimír Čech's directorial filmography is quite uneven, from a handful of above-average and distinctive works, here we can find average to below-average and even politically desecrated pamphlets.
At the same time, he started very promisingly. As his feature debut, he chose Božena Němcová's well-known short story DIVÁ BÁRA (1949), where, in addition to Vladimír Čech, Vlasta Fialová, a young up-and-coming actress from Brno, became world famous.
In terms of genre, his work is quite diverse. In the 1950s and 1960s, Vladimír Čech directed, for example, the comedies ŠTIKA V RYBNÍCE (1951), NEZLOB, KRISTINA! (1956), BETWEEN US THIEVES (1963) and IT WAS A FOURTH AND IT WILL BE A HALF (1968), dramas about the fights with NUREMBERK EXPRESS agents (1953) and also THE ROOSTER SCARED OF DEATH (1961), psychological dramas THE FIRST AND THE LAST (1959), COMPLETELY THE FINISHED MAN (1965), the war drama BLACK FLAG (1958) and SEVEN RAVENS (1967), the crime films with Karl Höger and Josef Bek 105% ALIBI (1959), KDE ALIBI NESTAČÍ (1961) and ALIBI ON THE WATER (1965), to 40 .the annual KSČ historical POCHODňA (1960) and the bad co-production (with Cuba) drama KOMU TANČÍ HAVANA (1962).
After the musical comedy SVTÁ HŘÍŠNICE (1970) based on František Langer's play "The Conversion of Ferdyš Pištor", the Czech was the first to apply for normalization in the early 1970s with the political works KEY (1971) - filmed for the 50th anniversary of the Communist Party, WEDDING WITHOUT A RING ( 1972), THE HIGH BLUE WALL (1973), THE ACTION IN ISTANBUL (1975) and STRONGER THAN FEAR (1978), the comedy triptych THE AFFAIR OF MY WIFE (1972), the crime drama SEVENTH DAY EVENING (1974), the psychological SOLITAIRE (1977), the comedy HOW TO BURN ADVOKÁTA (1980) and just before his retirement, instead of Jiří Suchý, he edited V HLAVNÍ ROLI OLDŘICH NOVÝ (1980).
He returned three times as an actor to film episodes – a jailer (THE FIRST AND THE LAST), a social democratic functionary (THE VICTORIOUS PEOPLE) and a man with a box (LOVE BETWEEN THE RAIN DROPS). As a director and screenwriter, he also collaborated with Czechoslovak Television (e.g. the productions ŽIŽK'S SWORD, TOO GREEN SPRING, THE PREMIERE IS POSTPONED, ON SILK CORDS and VAVŘÍN PATRÍ VŠEM). A number of his pictures received awards or honorable mentions at various festivals and polls.
The Czech Republic itself received the Grand Prize ex aequo (1958) at the XI. Karlovy Vary IFF for the film ČERNÝ PRAPOR, Award for Outstanding Work (1965), Muse of the Prague Audience Melpomené (1971) for the KEY, for the Literary Competition for the 25th Anniversary of February II. prize for the screenplay (1973) for the film SEDMÉHO DNE VEČER (1973), for HIGH BLUE WALL Special recognition for the screenplay in the Literary Competition for the 25th anniversary of February (1974) and for directing the Czech Literary Fund Award for the year 1974 (1975) and finally the title of Meritorious Artist (1976). Vladimír Čech died on February 2, 1992 in Prague at the premature age of seventy-eight.
