Rent The Valley of the Bees (1968)
3.8 of 5 from 85 ratings
1h 37min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- A visionary medieval epic, Vlacil's dazzling film is as powerful and engrossing as his more famous Marketa Lazarova. It chronicles the tale of a young boy forced to join the Order of the Teutonic Knights. Reaching adulthood he abandons the Crusaders, only to be pursued by a fanatical comrade and pay a terrible price for his rejection of the Holy Order. The film is a haunting moral fable examining the timeless conflict between human nature and dogmatism. Released just before the '68 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, the film's theme was given a political interpretation and its screenings severely restricted by the authorities.
- Actors:
- Petr Cepek, Jan Kacer, Vera Galatíková, Zdenek Kryzánek, Miroslav Machácek, Josef Somr, Vaclav Kotva, Jana Hlavackova, Frantisek Kovárík, Josef Kotapis, Petr Sedlák, Ludvík Volf, Ladislav Gzela, Petr Stepánek, Michal Kozuch, Jana Hájková, Zdenek Sedlácek, Milos Willig, Frantisek Husák, Vlastimil Hasek
- Directors:
- František Vlácil
- Producers:
- Vera Kadlecová
- Writers:
- Vladimír Körner, Frantisek Vlácil
- Aka:
- Udoli Vcel
- Studio:
- Secondrun
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama
- Collections:
- Cinema Paradiso's 2024 Centenary Club: Part 1, A Brief History of Film..., Top 10 Czech Films, Top Films
- Countries:
- Czechoslovakia
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 30/09/2024
- Run Time:
- 101 minutes
- Languages:
- Czech LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.35:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- (0) All
- Bonus:
- Frantisek Vlacil's two rare 1972 short documentary films with music by Zdenek Liska:
- The City in White (Mesto v bi'lem)
- Karlovy Vary Promenades (Karlovarske promenady)
- All-new Projection Booth audio commentary with Mike White and Robert Bellissimo
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Reviews (1) of The Valley of the Bees
Brooding and atmospheric - The Valley of the Bees review by CD
Terrific camerwork and the black and white format give a lot of extra atmosphere to this medieval tale. Having watched several Ingmar Bergman films just before this, I missed the strong characterisation of Bergman's films when watching this one. It is a sombre and quite slow moving tale which has limited dialogue within the sub-titles. Not a lot happens in terms of plot and I found the momentum a bit slow. However, still well worth a watch for its interesting medieval context and its allegorical content which was clearly very relevant to 1960s Czechoslavakia.
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