Summary
Based on a novel by Karl Matěj Čapek-Chod, Otakar Vávra shot this stylish social drama in 1941 with Lída Baarová in the lead female role. The fall of the family of the imperial councillor Ullik is conceived as the story of a kind of social ill, which generates the desire for profit and power. The symbol of decline is a new turbine, in which Ullik has invested all his hopes of saving his failing business. The councillor's eldest daughter Tynda is a talented opera singer, but she is unable to withstand the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and can't even manage her tempestuous love life. Within the framework of a costume drama from the turn of the century, Vávra managed to circumvent the thematic restrictions that artists faced under the Protectorate. The quality of the film also owes a lot to the excellent cast, which is dominated by the director’s favoured collaborator, František Smolík, as the unfortunate Ullik.
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