Death behind the Curtain

In 1966, director Antonín Kachlík expressed an interest in the popular detective genre. His adaptation of the novel Anděl hraje na violu (An Angel Plays the Viola) by Pavel Hejcman offered spectators the attractive setting of the theatre. A team of investigators look into the murder of prima ballerina Havlová (Květa Fialová). Captain Chrástek (in an unusual role for Miroslav Horníček) eventually finds himself on the trail of an international gang trafficking heroin from France to Italy via Czechoslovakia. The gang even has members among the theatre’s staff… Jaroslav Satoranský plays the part of Chrástek's colleague Mareček. The popular singer Valdemar Matuška – who took on numerous acting assignments during the 1960s – plays French trafficker Orbigny. Smrt za oponou (Death behind the Curtain, 1966)was also filmed in the former East Germany.