The Portrait

The Portrait

1948 · 87 min · ★ 7.7 · Fantasy, Horror

People are afraid of the usurer Chazaj and are convinced that he is the bearer of evil. One day Chazaj pays a visit to the poor artist Simon Jordán and asks him to paint his portrait. Simon agrees but as he progresses with the work his mind conjures up terrible thoughts and in the end he commits suicide. The portrait looks lifelike and Chazaj is content with the results. After Chazaj's death the picture changes hands and brings misfortune to all who own it. The last victim is the young painter Roman who buys Chazaj's portrait in a bazaar. He finds a treasure in the frame and begins to live well off it. The comfortable life suits him so well that he rejects his original artistic aims and becomes a painter of fashionable kitsch.

Directed by Jiří Slavíček · Written by František Vlček

Your Rating

Cast

Otomar Krejča Simon Jordán / Stepán Jordán
Luba Skořepová Martina Jordánová
Vladimír Šmeral Painter Roman
Ladislav Kulhánek Professor Mikulás
Karel Dostal Extortioner Chazaj
Rudolf Deyl Jáchym
Felix le Breux Marcel Bernard
Růžena Šlemrová Mrs. Viktorová
Ludmila Píchová Líza Viktorová
Emil Bolek Bussinesman Viktor
František Holar Mr. Zemblovský
Viktor Očásek Merchant Image

Make it a double feature

The Portrait

Bezdětná

Both from Jiří Slavíček.

More from Jiří SlavíčekSee all →

One in a Million

One in a Million · 1935

One in a Million

Věra Kalinová lives a life of luxury with her uncle, a factory owner. Having just won a literary contest, she receives an offer to work for the social affairs column of a magazine. The aspiring writer takes her future editorial role very seriously—she wants to experience "real life" first. Telling her family she is heading to the mountains, she disguises herself as a poor girl and visits an employment agency.

Vzhůru nohama

Vzhůru nohama · 1939

Armádní dvojčata

Armádní dvojčata · 1938

Armádní dvojčata

Řina Weberová, the daughter of a retired colonel, is the owner of a not very prosperous photo studio. Her elderly boyfriend, banker Václav Novák, secretly supports her financially because he is in love with her. One day, Řina meets her childhood friend, Vincenc Špaček, who has entered military service in Prague. The enterprising Vincenc and his inseparable comrade Vendelín Křídl advertise Řina's studio in the military garrison, so that the soldiers flock to Řina to have her photograph them. One day, Lieutenant Novák also shows up and immediately falls in love with Řina. Řina's father finds out that banker Novák is visiting his daughter, and he wants him to marry her...

Srdce v soumraku

Srdce v soumraku · 1936

Srdce v soumraku

MovieDramaRomance

Děti na zakázku

Děti na zakázku · 1938

Děti na zakázku

Dentist Dr. Matys employs two laboratory assistants, brothers Alois and Benjamin Zoubkova. They also serve as occasional nannies, because the young doctor is living with his widowed stepfather, former forest manager Václav Bezdětek, and his four small children. The brothers would like to marry their beloved boss, but they know that they must first find a new wife for Bezdětek. All the men are irritated by the radio feminist lectures of a certain Marta Kočová, who preaches against men who serve women and even give birth to children "on demand"...

Kluci na řece

Kluci na řece · 1944

On the banks of the Otava River stands a manor house that a group of boys find very mysterious. After visiting it, the boys discover that there is nothing there but an old lady and her granddaughter. The group splits into two camps and a "pitched" fight ensues, but it doesn't last long.

Studentská máma

Studentská máma · 1935

Studentská máma

MovieComedyRomance

A comedy about a small student boarding house, whose quirky and energetic owner, Miss Klatovská, takes maternal care of all her tenants, selflessly helps them with their problems and experiences all their successes, student loves and life's ups and downs with them. Whether it's the failing octave student Eman's problems with Latin, the hopeless love of chemist Jožka Budil for the medic Magda Bártová, or the fraudulent sale of a rare painting, in which the medic Mirek Toman gets involved...

Three Men in the Snow

Three Men in the Snow · 1936

Three Men in the Snow

Young doctor Hájek has been looking for a job for a long time in vain. But luck has smiled on him a little - he has won a competition for the best advertising slogan, which was held by the factory owner Bárta. The prize is a stay in a luxurious mountain hotel. At the same time, Bárta is also leaving for the same winter resort, but on a whim he decides to use a false name and pretend to be a poor man. It is therefore not surprising that the hotel staff gets confused when accommodating the two guests. The poor young man receives all sorts of honors and favors, the factory owner huddles in a small room without heating. In addition, Bárta's cute daughter appears on the scene, and all sorts of complications are not long in coming.

Milan Rastislav Štefánik

Milan Rastislav Štefánik · 1935

Milan Rastislav Štefánik

MovieDramaHistory

The life story of a prominent Slovak scientist, soldier, diplomat and politician who contributed to the creation of conditions for the formation of an independent Czechoslovakia. He died in a plane crash on May 4, 1919.

Marijka the Unfaithful

Marijka the Unfaithful · 1934

Marijka the Unfaithful

“The Carpathians are medieval!” one character bellows, and this tale of the tree-chopper Petro, his faithless wife Marijka, and various scheming businessmen and foremen does little to disprove the assertion. Interestingly filmed with a nonprofessional cast recruited from the region, Faithless Marijka may have a neorealist conceit, but its direction is utterly futuristic, filled with the lightning-fast montage techniques and low-angle camera of the Soviet avant-garde (along with its invigorating agitprop).

Bezdětná

Bezdětná · 1935

MovieDramaRomance

Směry života

Směry života · 1940

Mordová rokle

Mordová rokle · 1952

A new owner of the estate, Konrád Ritter von Schiess, arrives in the Czech village of Sluky. On his orders, the inhabitants of the village are to be evicted and only 30 families are allowed to remain, who volunteer to work on the estate. However, the inhabitants refuse to work for the lords, and their solidarity only strengthens when one of them is murdered by the Gestapo based on a report by the estate manager Prokeš...

Falešná kočička

Falešná kočička · 1937

Falešná kočička

A fortune teller predicts that Dr. Přelouč will marry the third poor girl he meets. Míla, the daughter of factory owner Janota, likes the doctor and, with the help of his housekeeper Amálka, sneaks into his home disguised as a poor shoelace saleswoman. She first prepares for her role by exploring the outskirts, where she meets Vendelín Pleticha, who becomes her guide to the local pubs and her teacher of the vernacular. Dr. Přelouč is enthusiastic about the poor, uneducated girl and tries to teach her the basics of social behavior and standard language. All this until he discovers that Míla has deceived him and that Pleticha is not her father, as she had claimed...

Jarčin profesor

Jarčin profesor · 1937

Jarčin profesor

A graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy, Karel Stržický earns extra money in the summer as a day laborer for the landowner Drahan. Jarča, the Drahans' daughter, spends the holidays with her parents, and her father has a lot of worries about her. The unsuccessful student is failing her German. However, an easy solution is offered - Karel will prepare her for remedial work. The mischievous Jarča considers him an ordinary coachman, and so she initially turns her nose up at him. However, the cultured young man manages to win her trust and heart. This does not go down well with his rival in the fight for the girl's favor, and he immediately comes up with a nasty slander: Karel is supposedly a former convict! A rift is not long in coming...

Hvězda z poslední štace

Hvězda z poslední štace · 1939

Hvězda z poslední štace

More Like This

The Lawnmower Man

The Lawnmower Man · 1992

The Lawnmower Man

MovieScience FictionHorror

A simple man is turned into a genius through the application of computer science.

1408

MovieHorrorMystery

A man who specializes in debunking paranormal occurrences checks into the fabled room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel. Soon after settling in, he confronts genuine terror.

Re-Animator

Re-Animator · 1985

MovieScience FictionComedy

Conducting clandestine experiments within the morgue at Miskatonic University, scientist Herbert West reveals to a fellow graduate student his groundbreaking work concerning the re-animation of fresh corpses.

Cat's Eye

Cat's Eye · 1985

MovieHorrorThriller

Three short stories linked by a stray cat that roams from one tale to the next, in this creepy triptych that begins as Dick tries to quit smoking by any means necessary. Next, we meet Johnny, an adulterous man who's forced by his lover's husband onto a building's hazardous ledge. Finally, Amanda is threatened by an evil gnome who throws suspicion on the family cat.

Dread

MovieHorrorDrama

Three college students set out to document what other people dread the most. However, one of the three turns out to secretly be a sadistic psychopath who uses this knowledge to gruesomely torture the subjects.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter