Lamač - founder of Czech kinematography

Karel Lamač (27 January 1897 – 2 August 1952) was a Czech film director, actor, screenwriter, producer and singer.^[1]

He directed more than 100 films in Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. (from Wikipedia)

As actor he can be seen in 70 films.

He studied to be a pharmacist, like his father. However, he was much more interested in art and while still a student he became a conductor of a philharmonic orchestra, later starting to perform with amateurs as a magician.

After the WWI he became a technical director of film laboratory in Excelsiorfilm. He started working in movies in 1918, first as an actor, later as a writer and a director.

In 1930 he founded a production company Ondra-Lamač Film with his then girlfriend Anny Ondra in Berlin. During 1930s he was making movies in Germany, Czechoslovakia, France and Austria. After the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia he left to Netherlands  and then to United Kingdom where he joined Czechoslovak Army. He served in RAF until 1941 and in infantry division until 1946.

He made war documentaries and three feature movies during WWII. After the war he made two movies in France. In 1947 then went to USA where he worked on technical innovations of color film and camera lenses. In 1951 he returned to Germany and directed his last film The Thief of Bagdad, West German musical comedy.

In the years 1930 to 1939 Lamač directed several films with oustanding Czech comedy actor Vlasta Burian. These films full of wonderful humuour belong to the "golden fund" of Czech kinematography.

He made his mark in the history of domestic cinema as the director of the first Czech film with complete sound, C.a k. polní maršálek, starring Vlasta Burian.

He died in Hamburg, West Germany due to serious problems with his kidneys.

Thanks for reading

                                    Margaret