The Dana Medřická Collection (4DVD) - DVD

District 13, 1946, 95 min, b&w
Inspector Čadek (Jaroslav Marvan) is assigned to keep an eye on the released safecracker Kočka. He believes Kočka will go to collect the loot that the police were unable to find. What will happen to the informant Karta, who turned him in, and the orphaned girl Frony, who left him? Whose life was ended by the midnight gunshots and where did the Chinaman Wang disappear?
J. A. Holman began shooting the film at the beginning of 1945 with Lída Baarová. Martin Frič completed it with a partially rewritten script and a new leading actress.
Starring: Dana Medřická, Jaroslav Marvan, Ella Nollová, Miloš Nedbal.

Moon Over the River, 1953, 100 min, colour
An extraordinary adaptation of Fráňa Šrámek's play with outstanding acting performances
The story, set in a small town, depicts the quiet resignation of Jan Hlubina, once the best student at the local grammar school, who succumbed to external pressures, failed to live up to the hopes placed in him, and ended up stuck in the town as a stationer. His daughter Slávka's emotional fate follows on from these disappointed hopes. She resists the middle-class notion that marriage, even without love, is the only solution for a woman's life. Everything changes when she meets Vilík Roškot, who is accompanying his father to the town for a school reunion. Under the spell of a moonlit evening and the roaring river, the two young people experience a romantic connection, which triggers a sharp conflict between reason and emotion in Slávka.
Starring: Zdeněk Štěpánek, Zdeňka Baldová, Dana Medřická, Jiří Plachý, Eduard Cupák.

Here Be Lions, 1958, 88 min, b&w
A timeless psychological drama by Václav Krška that offers an open critique of society
The main character of the story is plant engineer Štěrba, who has a motorcycle accident and is in a life-threatening condition. His colleagues from the Žofie Mine wait anxiously for news from the hospital. The plot flashes back to the events that preceded the accident.
The film stands out not only for its good script, quality cinematography, and masterful direction, but also for the acting performances of Karel Höger, Dana Medřická, and Jarmila Smejkalová. It is one of the gems of the 1950s which, along with other socially critical films, ended up locked away in a vault for several years.
Starring: Karel Höger, Dana Medřická, Jarmila Smejkalová, Alena Kreuzmannová, Jiřina Bohdalová.

Black Saturday, 1960, 70 min, b&w
A crime drama about a methyl alcohol scandal
A warehouse worker, Kubíček, steals two demijohns of alcohol from a parked tanker, but he doesn't realise it is methyl alcohol. He gives one to Rezek, a vendor at a station kiosk, and the other to Valena. When people start dying from methyl alcohol poisoning, a search for the dangerous demijohn begins.
Starring: Dana Medřická, Josef Bek, Rudolf Deyl ml., Zdeněk Dítě, Lubor Tokoš, František Filipovský, Josef Kemr.