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Tonka of the Gallows
Tonka of the Gallows
Directed by	Karel Anton
Screenplay by	Benno Vigny; Willy Haas;
Based on	Die Himmelfahrt der Galgentoni; by Egon Erwin Kisch
Produced by	Karel Anton
Starring	Ita Rina; Vera Baranovskaya; Josef Rovenský;
Cinematography	Eduard Hoesch
Edited by	Karel Anton
Music by	Erno Košťál
Production; company	Anton-film
Distributed by	Elektafilm
Release date	27 February 1930 (Prague);
Running time	82 minutes
Country	Czechoslovakia
Languages	Czech; German; French;

Tonka of the Gallows (Czech: Tonka Šibenice, French: Tonischka, German: Die Galgentoni) is a 1930 Czech drama film directed by Karl Anton and starring Ita Rina, Vera Baranovskaya and Josef Rovenský.

It is an adaptation of the novella Die Himmelfahrt der Galgentoni by Egon Erwin Kisch.

The movie was shot as a silent movie, but later Czech, German and French post-synchronized sound versions were made.^[1]

Plot

The movie follows story of a country girl Tonka who lives in Prague and works as a prostitute unbeknownst to her family. One day a convicted murderer Prokůpek requests to spend a night with a girl before his execution. Policemen ask many prostitutes if they're willing to do this job, but all of them refuse except Tonka. As a result, none of her customers wants to visit her again and other prostitutes shun her.

Cast

Ita Rina as Tonka of the Gallows
Vera Baranovskaya Tonka's mother
Josef Rovenský as Murderer Prokůpek
Jack Mylong-Münz as Jan
Jindřich Plachta as Cabman
Antonie Nedošinská as Whorehouse owner
Emilie Nitschová as Chestnut seller
Rudolf Štěpán as Executioner
Felix Kühne as Salesman
Theodor Pištěk as Drunkard
Jan Sviták as Pimp
Karel Jelínek as Whorehouse customer

Production

Writer Egon Erwin Kisch allegedly met with a prostitute, named Antonie Havlová, who told him her life story shortly before her death in 1911. He wrote the novella Die Himmelfahrt der Galgentoni, which was supposedly based on her life, however no woman named Antonie Havlová was ever documented to be living in Prague in 1911.^[2] Shortly after the release of the book in 1921, a theatre play was produced at Revoluční scéna with Xena Longenová playing the main role.^[3] Karel Anton decided to make a silent movie based on the book. The shooting started in autumn 1929 at Kavalírka studio in Košíře. Unfortunately the stages burned down on 25 October together with some reels of the film. The movie was finished at AB studios in Vinohrady and it was decided to release the movie as a sound film. Czech, French and German post-synchrons were recorded at Gaumont Joinville studio in Paris.^[4]

Reception

Tonka of the Gallows premiered at Alfa cinema in Prague on 27 February 1930. The movie was advertised as the "first Czech sound film". Contemporary critics mostly praised the movie with Filmový přehled writing "The impression with which I left the theatre was unforgettable and rivetting." In France Hebdo-Film wrote "Karl Anton has used all the means of expression offered by modern cinematographic techniques, but his personality has always allowed him to avoid the traps set by convention and sentimentality."^[5]

Restoration

Only the French version survived to this day. From the Czech version only the beginning with Karel Hašler singing Hradčany krásné survived. The French version was digitally restored and released on DVD in 2016 by Národní filmový archiv. It was screened at MoMA in 2017 and San Francisco Silent Film Festival and Phoenix Cinema, London in 2019.

References

^ "Tonka of the Gallows". Filmový přehled. Národní filmový ústav. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
^ Hrubý, Dan (6 April 2020). "Tonka Šibenice : Nečekané odhalení". Praha 1 (in Czech). Retrieved 8 October 2023.
^ "Prostitutky v české literatuře". Dvojka (in Czech). 23 August 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
^ Voráč, Jiří (1997). "Tonka Šibenice". Iluminace 9 (in Czech). Prague: Národní filmový ústav. pp. 187–190.
^ Weissberg, Jay. "Tonka of the Gallows". San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Retrieved 6 February 2020.

Bibliography

Brož, Jaroslav & Frída, Myrtil. Historie československého filmu v obrazech 1930 – 1945, Orbis, Prague, 1966.

External links

Tonka of the Gallows at IMDb
Horak, Jan-Christopher (7 June 2019). "Tonka of the Gallows at SFSFF". UCLA Film & Television Archive. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
Smith Nehme, Farran (19 April 2017). "Tonka of the Gallows (1930)". Film Comment. Film at Lincoln Center. Retrieved 6 February 2020.