Ladislav Rychman

Ladislav Rychman (October 9, 1922 - April 1, 2007) was a Czech film director who filmed famous Czechoslovak musical comedies Starci na chmelu (The Hop Pickers) (1964) and Dáma na kolejích (Lady on the Tracks) (1966).

Selected movies

• 1964: Starci na chmelu (The Hop Pickers)
• 1966: Jak se koupe zena segment of Zločin v dívčí škole (Crime at the Girls School)
• 1966: Dáma na kolejích (Lady on the Tracks)
• 1969: Šest černých dívek aneb Proč zmizel Zajíc (Six Black-Haired Girls)
• 1984: Babičky dobíjejte přesně!

• "IMDb: Ladislav Rychman". IMDb. 

Rychman is also cited as being "indespensable" as the founder of Czech music clips: short films with a central musical performance very similar in length and style to modern music videos.

1958's "Dáme si do bytu" ("Let's get to the apartment") differs in style to earlier musical films such as Bessie Smith's St. Louis Blues in that the narrative is contained within the song and not extrapolated out into a longer form story. It also features heavy art direction and abstraction which was not at all common in promotional music films.

(also known as Hop Side Story and Green Gold)

This first Czech musical comedy deals with adolescent morality and bureaucracy without being heavy-handed. Under school supervision, a group of pre-teen boys and girls are busy picking hops. One might expect a 'communist musical' but it is more a love story. One boy (Vladimír Pucholt) who seeks privacy builds a secret hideaway in an attic. When a schoolgirl (Ivana Pavlová) finds him in his retreat, innocent puppy-love blossoms, but a jealous classmate (Miloš Zavadil) tells the teacher (Irena Kačírková) about the two friends, and they are suspended from school. The boy and girl accept their punishment and form an even stronger bond. The two leave the school together while their classmates ostracize the jealous informant.

The Czech musical comedy about a lady streetcar driver in Prague (Jiřina Bohdalová) who mounts a campaign for women's rights when she discovers her husband's love affair.