Josef Kalena

Drama Series - 1976, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role

Thirty Cases of Major Zeman is a Czechoslovak action-drama television show intended as a political propaganda to support the official attitude of the communist party. The series were filmed in the 1970s. Each episode encompasses one year, and investigations are stylized to that year. Most are inspired by real cases. The series follows the life of police investigator Jan Zeman during his career from 1945 to 1975.

Movie - 1975, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role

Petr Rynes (Svatopluk Matyás) is celebrating his forty-fifth birthday in the company of his friends. He is happy with his wife, and his abilities at work have been rewarded with the medal For Outstanding Work. But a few short seconds are enough to change his life when he makes the ill-judged decision to take his car to bring a friend's wife to the celebration, and hits a pedestrian on the way. He has of course been drinking at the party and is consequently sentenced to sixteen months in prison. Being in jail is not an easy thing for a honorable communist. He soon gets into conflict with several violent inmates, who think they can break his spirit by violence.

Movie - 1973, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role

This feature film based on the events of 1938 is a chronicle of the futile efforts of the Czechoslovak president Edvard Benes (Jirí Pleskot), politicians and ordinary citizens, to save the independence and the territorial integrity of the state from the advance of Hitler's Germany. On the 29th of March 1938 the leader of the Sudeten Germans Henlein (Werner Ehrlicher) has a meeting with Hitler (Gunnar Möller). Hitler orders him to intensify pressure on the Czechoslovak government. On the 24th of April in Carlsbad, the Sudetendeutsche Partei (Sudeten German Party) decides upon eight demands that are unacceptable to the Czechoslovak President, since they would ultimately lead to the break-up of the Republic. Benes still shows a certain willingness to negotiate, and Henlein resents this. The Germans are determined to make further negotiations impossible through incidents and violence.

Movie - 1977, 2h 15m • as Sepp Brandeis, Schmidtův nadřízený

A West German businessman Friedrich Schmidt is arriving to Czechoslovakia with private mission and mission for Intelligence service. He wants to settle the old event from the time of the Second World War when he as a student of the Czech grammar school in the town of Kostelec took part at the denunciation of his schoolmate Pavel Richter. Pavel was during the period of Nazi terror following the assassination of Acting Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia Heydrich executed. Schmidt has also to enter into relations with persons suitable for cooperation with the West Intelligence service. Schmidt - earlier, before the German occupation Smíd - meets the schoolmates and endeavors to avert suspicion that arose already at the time of the tragic event.

Movie - 1973, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role

A broadly drawn ideological epic set in the summer of 1947 in the borderlands of northern Bohemia: reactionary elements plot to undermine postwar social change while committed local communists struggle to organize workers and defend the emerging order. The narrative follows several archetypal figures—steadfast party activists, wary peasants, and obstructive reactionaries—whose clashes illustrate the claimed inevitability of working-class victory under communist leadership.

Movie - 1978, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role

February 1948. The struggle of decisive social forces for the heart of Europe.

Movie - 1973, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role

The main character of the story is Professor Trojan, the head of a Prague clinic, who is not experiencing the happiest of times. His cat has been poisoned with cyanide, he has a falling out with his son Petr, who has moved to Brno to be with his wife, the promising singer Eva, and only seeks out his father when he needs money, and as if that weren't enough, someone shoots him in the evening. Trojan initially considers it a mistake or a prank and does not share the fears of those around him. But then cyanide is discovered and one of the patients takes it from the assistant Dvoracek, who borrowed it for an unauthorized experiment. Trojan pairs the cyanide with a gunshot and slowly begins to suspect that someone is trying to kill him. At first he suspects Dvorak, who might become the foreman after his death, but later, as he falls deeper and deeper into a psychosis of fear and apprehension, he begins to suspect everyone around him...

Movie - 1977, 2h 15m • as čert dr. Belfegor

The cheeky, energetic Plajznerka, whose body is filled with the desire for a thick slice of happiness, tames and whips the forgotten devil to make him a "hardworking and honest musketeer", who would be able to properly wield the blacksmith at the anvil and on Plajznerka's small farm. And to help her overcome all the worldly pitfalls, slander and the hostility of her neighbors. From the eloquence of this charming woman, Trepifajksl soon understands that he will be much better off as a human being than as an old, worn-out devil...