Summary
Back in 1948, Otakar Vávra made one of his most celebrated features – the anti-war mystery Krakatit based on a novel by Karel Čapek that drew on the contemporary threat of nuclear annihilation. Thirty two years later, in 1980, Vávra revisited Čapek’s story, together with the writer and dramatist Jiří Šotola (with whom he had already collaborated in making his historical feature film Příběh lásky a cti [A Story of Love and Honour, 1970]). Temné slunce offers an updated version of the original narrative. In the contemporary spirit of the programming dramaturgs and commissioners of Prague’s Barrandov film studios, it presents the evil-minded capitalist who would misuse the revolutionary discovery of Czech physicist Prokop… Radoslav Brzobohatý takes the lead role in this ambitious coproduction. Rudolf Hrušínský plays the devilish Carson, while Magda Vášáryová handles the leading female part, that of the terrorist Kris. After cameraman Miroslav Ondříček sustained a grave injury, Josef Illík had to complete the cinematography.
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