František Čáp’s war drama was meant to be a celebration of the heroes of the anti-Nazi resistance movement, reflecting the new era of building the Czechoslovak state. Instead, it came to represent a conflict between traditional film dramaturgy and the cultural policy of the Communist Party enforced after the 1948 coup.
In post-war Czechoslovakia, the reception of František Čáp’s films was rather ambiguous. Appreciated was mainly the patriotic adaptation of The Grandmother (Babička), made in the dark Protectorate period. On the other hand, other films that Čáp made under the Protectorate were met with controversy – such as his adaptation of Jan Cimbura with its scene of expelling a Jewish innkeeper, with an anti-Semitic tone, or the never finished Prince Vaclav (Kníže Václav), which was allegedly in line with the Nazi interpretation of Czech history. After the liberation, Čáp faced accusations of collaboration. He could only start filming again after his complete rehabilitation at the beginning of 1946.
In quick succession, he made several films, of which mainly the first – the drama Men without Wings (Muží bez křídel) about activities of the Czech resistance after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich – even received international recognition (e.g. an award at the Cannes International Film Festival).
White Darkness (Bílá tma) was based on a story by Růžena Fischerová. The editor-in-chief of Partyzán magazine took a document archived in the Kiev partisan movement’s headquarters and turned it into fiction. In this document, First Lieutenant Jiří Nezval recorded the testimony of a few partisans who, having retreated to the mountains during the Slovak National Uprising, remained isolated from the other troops in an improvised underground hospital. Fischerová turned their statements into a short film story and sent it to a thematic competition held by Czechoslovak State Film in June 1946. The short story called Children of this Country (Děti této země) won second prize (no first prize was awarded).
Touching on topical issues and promising a dramatic spectacle, the story was soon accepted for production by Czechoslovak State Film. Fischerová’s original story was remade into a film screenplay by writer Miloslav Fábera and dramatist Leopold Lahola – himself an active participant in the Slovak National Uprising. And so it was that through White Darkness two writers met who later significantly shaped cinematography – Fábera in his role as Barrandov Film Studio director in the normalization period, and Lahola as the founder of the Israeli film industry after his emigration.
Their story served as a basis for a film screenplay made by Lahola already together with František Čáp. They added new motifs to the story – for instance of two partisans travelling to a distant village to get supplies or of a Russian soldier fleeing a German unit. The story, however, mainly revolves around the surrounded field hospital, with growing insecurity, fear and tension between clearly defined characters.
In the main roles, Čáp mostly cast actors he had already worked with in his previous films (L. H. Struna, Július Pántik, Nataša Tanská). However, for some roles, he gave a chance to young protagonists just starting their careers (Ladislav Chudík, Martin Ťapák). The Russian soldier was played by Boris Andrejev, who was famous thanks to Soviet war and historical films of the time.
Shooting started in March 1947 with exterior scenes in the Low Tatras. However, due to heavy snow, it had to be interrupted until autumn that year, when the crew moved to a new studio in Bratislava and then to a studio in Prague-Hostivař. Exterior shots were completed in February and March 1948, but around the Štrbské Pleso Lake, which slightly disturbed the realistic nature of the film (the partisans actually withdrew to the Low Tatras). The shooting was concluded in April and May in the Barrandov Studio.
White Darkness represented domestic filmmaking at the 3rd International Film Festival in Mariánské Lázně, where it got a challenge national award for the best Czechoslovak film. At the same time, it was screened at the 1st International Workers‘ Festival in Zlín held in July–August 1948, which deliberately overlapped with the Mariánské Lázně festival. Having taken power in February that year, the Communist Party considered the new Zlín festival an important tool in enforcing their cultural policy – be it through dramaturgy, selection of films to be awarded, or mainly through the role of what was called a workers‘ jury.
In Zlín, not only did White Darkness not receive any award, the aforementioned jury criticized it. Given a casting voice in assessing the artistic qualities of works of art, the representatives of the working class criticized the theatrical dialogues, lack of optimism and excessive naturalism of certain scenes.[1] Čáp protested against these statements on the spot, allegedly disparaging the jury.[2] This was followed by a campaign against the director led by certain print media and a total prohibition of his artistic activities in October 1948. Čáp had little choice but to emigrate, first to West Germany and later to Yugoslavia, where he became a prominent director in post-war Slovenia. He didn’t manage to finish his last Czech film, Crossroads (Křižovatka), which he had started filming simultaneously with White Darkness.
Jan Křipač
White Darkness (Bílá tma, Czechoslovakia, 1948), director: František Čáp, screenplay: František Čáp, Leopold Lahola, director of photography: Václav Huňka, music: Jiří Srnka, editor: Jan Kohout, cast: Július Pántik, Mária Prechovská, Boris Andrejev, Nataša Tanská, Jozef Budský, Ladislav Herbert Struna, Dana Medřická et al. Československý státní film, 102 min.
Notes:
[1] see Knapík, Jiří, Dělnický soud nad Františkem Čápem. Iluminace 14, 2002, No. 3, p. 70 and Český hraný film III. 1945–1960. Národní filmový archiv: Praha 2001, p. 400.
[2] According to the Filmové noviny weekly quoted by the Zlín magazine Tep svobodné práce, Čáp allegedly said this: „Workers are idiots; they don’t understand films and can go to hell“ (see Je to tak? Filmové noviny 2, 1948, No. 32, p. 2). However, the director claimed the quotation was inaccurate (see Otevřený list dělnické porotě I. mezinárodního filmového festivalu pracujících ve Zlíně. Iluminace 14, 2002, No. 3, pp. 78–79).
