Bedřich Karen
Acting
Biography
No biography available for Bedřich Karen.
Born: October 15, 1887
Place of Birth: Plzen/Pilsen, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Plzen, Czech Republic]
Known For
The Good Soldier Švejk
Good-natured and garrulous, Schweik becomes the Austrian army's most loyal Czech soldier when he is called up on the outbreak of World War I -- although his bumbling attempts to get to the front serve only to prevent him from reaching it. Playing cards and getting drunk, he uses all his cunning and genial subterfuge to deal with the police, clergy, and officers who chivy him toward battle.
The Devil's Trap
A small town is one day visited by a priest who is there on a secret mission. He is a member of the Inquisition sent to investigate the activities of a local miller. The miller and his son are the descendants of an old family whose ancestral home burned down a century ago, but was rebuilt from scratch. The miller inherited much of his knowledge about the land, water, and a building's stability from generations of family experience. His reputation for finding water and predicting when a structure might collapse have come to the attention of the Inquisition -surely he must be in league with the Devil.
The White Disease
In a country whose people have just been successfully persuaded of their superiority and the justification for military expansion by the fiery speeches of a dictator, the bacillus of a highly destructive form of leprosy has spread. It is called morbus Tshengi, or popularly „white disease“. The only one who has developed an effective cure for it is a physician of the poor named Galén. But he refuses to reveal the secret of his cure as long as the powerful destroy human lives through wars.
The Guild of the Kutná Hora Virgins
A morally questionable lord comes to the aid of a working class man who is to be executed for speaking out about thieving rich scoundrels sticking it to the poor.
Kidnapped
American agents hijack a plane on the Ostrava-Prague route to launch a campaign against the People's Democratic Czechoslovakia. The plane lands in West Germany, but the Americans have an unexpected problem convincing the hijackers to stay in the West. Based on a true story.
Jan Hus
The first part of the "Hussite Revolutionary Trilogy", completed with Jan Žižka (1955) and Proti všem (Against All Odds, 1957). The film captures the period from May 1412 to the summer of 1415, a turbulent time in the Czech Kingdom, during which there were protests in Prague against the sale of "omnipotent indulgences" whose sale throughout the kingdom was announced by Pope John XXIII. The ideological leader of this movement is the preacher Master Jan Hus, whose words, calling for the elimination of church abuses, are listened to in the Bethlehem Chapel by thousands of ordinary Praguers, Czech lords and Queen Sophie, wife of the Czech King Wenceslas IV.
The Strike
In late 19th century Czech-speaking Bohemia, oppressed workers at German-owned mines and foundries revolt against their harsh working conditions. Made shortly after World War II as Czechoslovakia was falling to communism, the film resonates in Czech resentment of the German occupation.
Velké dobrodružství
A biographical film about the traveler Emil Holub, conceived as an illustrative story of an exceptional man, who, however, encounters the disinterest and rejection of the domestic Czech bourgeoisie. To this is added an international perspective - Holub encounters British expansionism in Africa and indignantly rejects colonial methods, trying to help black people.
Posel úsvitu
A biographical film about a Czech mechanic and designer who was the first in the Czech lands to construct a steam car.
Against All
After the battle of Sudoměř the Hussite teaching spreads through the whole country and people start leaving their homes to help build the fortification of Tábor. Prague citizens request help against the army of Zikmund. The Hussite army with Jan Žižka in the lead make their way towards Prague. They fortify themselves on the mountain Vítkov and engage in a bloody battle with Zikmund’s huge army.
Filmography
as Biskup Dittrichstejn
as Dekan
as Provost
as profesor Heuer
as dr. Ladislav Rieger
as kardinál Pierre d'Ailli
as Rubes
as American Colonel Mike Jacobs
as Swerts
as Bacher
as David Wolfram
as Prof. Sigelius