The Shop on Main Street

Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos

Czech Republic

1965

125 minutes

Black and White

1.33:1

Czech

Watch Film for $5

130

Synopsis

An inept Czech peasant is torn between greed and guilt when the Nazi-backed bosses of his town appoint him “Aryan controller” of an old Jewish widow’s button shop. Humor and tragedy fuse in this scathing exploration of one cowardly man’s complicity in the horrors of a totalitarian regime. Made near the height of Soviet oppression in Czechoslovakia, The Shop on Main Street features intense editing and camera work which won it the Academy Award™ for Best Foreign Film in 1965.

Cast

Rozalie LautmannIda Kaminská
Tono Brtko Josef Kroner
Marcus KikotskyFrantisek Zvarík
Evelyna Brtková Hana Slivková
KatzMartin Gregor
Piti Báci Adam Matejka
Maian Peter Mikulás Ladizinsky
Balko Báci Alojz Kramár

Credits

DirectorJán Kadár and Elmar Klos
ScreenplayL. Grosman, Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos
ProducerJordan Balurov and Jaromír Lukás
MusicZdenek Liska
CinematographyVladimír Novotny
EditingDiana Heringová and Jaromír Janácek
Costume designMarie Rosenfelderová
Production DesignKarel Skvor
SoundDobroslav Srámek

Disc Features

  • New digital transfer
  • U.S. theatrical trailer
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

From the Current

The Shop on Main Street:
Not the Six Million but the One

by Ján Kadár Sep 17, 2001

Of all my films, The Shop on Main Street touches me most closely. Elmar Klos and I usually work as equal partners, but in this case he left me a free hand. He knows that I am not thinking of the fate of all the six million tortured Jews, but that my work is . . .

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Available Editions

The Shop on Main Street Criterion DVD Add to Cart

DVD

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