# Karel Lamač

Karel Lamač (27 January 1897 – 2 August 1952) was a Czech film director, actor, screenwriter, producer and singer. He directed more than 100 films in Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

## Life

Lamač was born 27 January 1897 in Prague, Austria-Hungary. His parents were Karel Lamač sr. (1863–1938), opera singer and a pharmacist, and Františka Lamačová (née Prusíková, 1860–1949). In his childhood Lamač was interested in pharmacy, electrical engineering, stage magic and acting. Before WWI he went to apprentice in camera manufacturer company Ernemann in Dresden. During the war he was a combat cameraman. After the war 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. Among his best movies of this period are crime drama The Poisoned Light, comedy Catch Him! and drama White Paradise. In 1923 he wrote a book How to write a film libretto. His frequent collaborators were actress Anny Ondra, cinematographer Otto Heller and screenwriter Václav Wasserman. In 1926 he co-founded a film studio Kavalírka where he made his movies until it burned down in 1929.
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 to make De Spooktrein 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.
He died in Hamburg, West Germany due to serious problems with his kidneys.

## Selected filmography
### Director

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1919 | The Furious Bridegroom | Short film. Considered lost. |
| 1919 | Chord of Death | Considered lost. |
| 1920 | Gilly in Prague for the First Time | |
| 1921 | The Poisoned Light | |
| 1923 | The Lumberjack | |
| 1924 | White Paradise | |
| 1925 | Catch Him! | |
| 1925 | Karel Havlíček Borovský | Considered lost. |
| 1925 | The Lantern | |
| 1926 | The Countess from Podskalí | Considered lost. |
| 1926 | The Good Soldier Schweik | |
| 1926 | Schweik at the Front | |
| 1926 | Never the Twain | Considered lost. |
| 1927 | The Old Dad Bezoušek | |
| 1927 | A Flower of the Šumava Mountains | Considered lost. |
| 1927 | Sweet Josefine | Considered lost. |
| 1928 | Eve's Daughters | |
| 1928 | The First Kiss | |
| 1928 | Suzy Saxophone | |
| 1928 | Der erste Kuß | |
| 1929 | Sin | Considered lost. |
| 1929 | Sinful and Sweet | |
| 1929 | Sin of a Beautiful Woman | |
| 1929 | The Girl with the Whip | |
| 1929 | The Caviar Princess | |
| 1930 | Das Mädel aus U.S.A. | |
| 1929 | Fairground People | |
| 1930 | Imperial and Royal Field Marshal | |
| 1930 | K. und K. Feldmarschall | German version of Imperial and Royal Field Marshal |
| 1930 | Monsieur le maréchal | French version of Imperial and Royal Field Marshal |
| 1930 | Eine Freundin so goldig wie Du | |
| 1931 | Him and His Sister | |
| 1931 | Er und seine Schwester | German version of Him and His Sister |
| 1931 | The Squeaker | |
| 1931 | Business Under Distress | |
| 1931 | Die Fledermaus | |
| 1931 | Wehe, wenn er losgelassen | |
| 1931 | La Chauve-Souris [fr] | Co-directed with Pierre Billon |
| 1932 | Mamsell Nitouche | |
| 1932 | A Night in Paradise | |
| 1932 | Une nuit au paradis | |
| 1932 | Lelíček in the Services of Sherlock Holmes | |
| 1932 | The Undertaker | |
| 1932 | Die grausame Freundin | |
| 1932 | Faut-il les marier? | |
| 1932 | The Ringer | |
| 1932 | Kiki | |
| 1932 | Baby | |
| 1933 | Daughter of the Regiment | |
| 1933 | La fille du régiment | French version of Daughter of the Regiment |
| 1933 | Fräulein Hoffmanns Erzählungen | |
| 1933 | The Good Tramp Bernášek | |
| 1933 | Jindra, the Countess Ostrovín | |
| 1933 | The Love Hotel | |
| 1933 | Orchesterprobe | Short film |
| 1934 | So ein Theater! | Short film |
| 1934 | Der verhexte Scheinwerfer | |
| 1934 | The Switched Bride | Short film |
| 1934 | L'amour en cage | |
| 1934 | Karneval und Liebe | |
| 1934 | Little Dorrit | |
| 1934 | Frasquita | |
| 1934 | The Brenken Case | |
| 1934 | Polská krev | |
| 1934 | Polish Blood | German version of Polská krev |
| 1934 | Nezlobte dědečka | |
| 1935 | Knockout | |
| 1935 | Großreinemachen | |
| 1935 | I Love All the Women | |
| 1935 | J'aime toutes les femmes | French version of Ich liebe alle Frauen |
| 1935 | The White Horse Inn | |
| 1935 | The Young Count | |
| 1936 | The Postman from Longjumeau | |
| 1936 | The Bashful Casanova | |
| 1936 | Flitterwochen | |
| 1936 | On the Green Meadow | |
| 1936 | Where the Lark Sings | |
| 1937 | The Hound of the Baskervilles | |
| 1937 | A Girl from the Chorus | |
| 1937 | Vor Liebe wird gewarnt | |
| 1937 | Peter im Schnee | |
| 1937 | Grounds for Divorce | |
| 1937 | Cause for Divorce | German version of Důvod k rozvodu |
| 1937 | The Vagabonds | |
| 1937 | Pat und Patachon im Paradies | |
| 1937 | Florentine | |
| 1938 | Immer wenn ich glücklich bin..! | |
| 1938 | Forbidden Love | |
| 1938 | Frühlingsluft | |
| 1938 | Ducháček Will Fix It | |
| 1938 | The Lantern | |
| 1938 | Watch Out for the Ghosts | |
| 1939 | Place de la Concorde | |
| 1939 | Slávka, Don't Give In! | |
| 1939 | U pokladny stál... | |
| 1939 | De Spooktrein | |
| 1940 | Narcisse | |
| 1943 | Schweik's New Adventures | |
| 1943 | They Met in the Dark | |
| 1944 | It Happened One Sunday | |
| 1947 | La Colère des dieux | |
| 1947 | One Night at the Tabarin | |
| 1952 | The Thief of Bagdad | |

### Actor

* Gilly in Prague for the First Time (1920)
* The Poisoned Light (1921)
* The Arrival from the Darkness (1921)
* Look After Your Daughters (1922)
* Lead Us Not into Temptation (1922)
* Young Medardus (1923)
* Helena (1924)
* The Secret Agent (1924)
* White Paradise (1924)
* The Lantern (1925)
* Eve's Daughters (1928)

### Producer

* The Double (1934)