King of Sumava

This collective monograph opening the “České kino” (Czech Cinema) edition discusses one of the most popular Czech movie “hits”, Karel Kachyňa’s King of Sumava (in orig. Král Šumavy; also known under the title Smugglers of Death; 1959). The popularity – or even the “cult status” – of the movie is closely connected to its “most important” function, i.e. its role in the (de-)formation of historical memory; the movie played (and still plays) this role deliberately, as part of its ideological substance. As such, King of Sumava represents a typical example of a “memory film” (Erinnerungsfilm) whose “memory role” is determined by its reception, i.e. by the number of movie theatre visitors, TV fans and audience response in general. Therefore, the first section of the book discusses the movie’s reception, including the discussion of the “movie star” phenomenon, in this particular case embodied by the representative of the main hero – Jiří Vala.