Biography of a Czech film director and screenwriter:
Jan Werich, a renowned Czech film director and screenwriter, began his career in various traveling theater companies. From 1928 to 1938, he worked as an inspector and props manager at the Osvobozené Divadlo. He also played the role of an inspector in the film "Pudr a benzín" directed by Voskovc and Werich.
Werich started writing film scripts in 1933, initially for other directors, such as Václav Wasserman, and later for his own films. However, the artistic quality of his scripts varied greatly, with some films being outstanding and others being subpar.
At the Osvobozené Divadlo, Werich adapted children's plays for the stage, such as "Ostrov dynamit" and "Divotvorný klobouk", and wrote his own fairy tales, often featuring the character of Captain Bublas, as seen in "Alibaba a třicet devět loupežníků".
After World War II, Werich began directing films in 1945. Throughout his life, he was always fully conformist with the governing regime, which led to him creating films that were politically tendentious and ideologically problematic. As a result, his artistic career is now viewed as being very uneven and socially controversial.
Werich directed a mix of high-quality and mediocre films, as well as some that were outright poor. As a disciplined member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, he was frequently praised, rewarded, and artistically promoted by the communist regime. In 1973, he was awarded the title of National Artist.
