Ninety Degrees in the Shade
{{Short description|1965 film by Jiří Weiss}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2014}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Ninety Degrees in the Shade
| image = 90 Degrees in the Shade (1965) Film Poster.jpg
| caption = Film poster
| director = Jiří Weiss
| producer = Raymond Stross
| writer = {{ubl|Jiří Weiss|David Mercer|Jiří Mucha}}
| starring = {{ubl|James Booth|Anne Heywood}}
| music = Luděk Hulan
| cinematography = Bedřich Baťka
| editing = {{ubl|Jan Chaloupek|Russell Lloyd}}
| studio = {{ubl|Filmové studio Barrandov|Raymond Stross Productions}}
| distributor = Unger Films (US)
| released = {{Film date|1965|10|01|Czechoslovakia|df=yes}}
| runtime = {{ubl|78 minutes (Czech cut)|90 minutes (English cut)}}
| country = {{ubl|United Kingdom|Czech Republic}}
| language = {{ubl|English|Czech}}
| budget =
| gross =
}}
Ninety Degrees in the Shade ({{langx|cs|Třicet jedna ve stínu}}) is a 1965 British-Czech drama film directed by Jiří Weiss.{{Cite web |title=Ninety Degrees in the Shade |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150299570 |access-date=13 January 2025 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20090119021124/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/374280 BFI.org] It was written by Weiss, David Mercer and Jiří Mucha.
It was one of a series of films producer Raymond Stross made starring wife Anne Heywood.{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|date=4 May 2025|access-date=4 May 2025|title=Not Quite Movie Stars: Anne Heywood|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/not-quite-movie-stars-anne-heywood}}
Plot
It's very hot, putting a strain on everyone. A beautiful woman works in a shop in Czechoslovakia during the Communist era. She is in the late, disillusioned stages of an affair with a married man. Two government inspectors arrive to carry out an audit. The shop sells expensive alcoholic drinks. One inspector is relaxed, an old hand, but the other is a newcomer and meticulous. The heroine's boyfriend has stolen some bottles with her compliance. She manages to hide this from the meticulous inspector during the first day of the inspection. That night she and her boyfriend raise money and buy bottles to replace those he stole. That night also, we see the unhappy home life of the meticulous inspector – his alcoholic wife and lazy son. We are led to wonder if he has feelings for the heroine (the shop worker). On the second day of the inspection, the relaxed inspector of the pair drops a bottle and it breaks, leading to the discovery that almost all the bottles have had their contents stolen and are filled with tea. The film ends with an ambiguous act by the heroine, her motives unclear.
Cast
- James Booth as Milan Vorel
- Anne Heywood as Alena Burdová
- Rudolf Hrušínský as JUDr. Rudolf Kurka
- Ann Todd as Mrs. Kurková
- Donald Wolfit as Bažant
- Ladislav Potměšil as Jirka Kurka
- Jiřina Jirásková as Věra
- Vladimír Menšík as Emil, Věra's husband
- Jiří Sovák as Director
- Věra Tichánková as Marie Vávrová
- Otakar Brousek as Milan Vorel (Czech voice)
- Alena Kreuzmannová as Alena Burdová (Czech voice)
- Zdenka Procházková as Mrs. Kurková (Czech voice)
- Čestmír Řanda as Bažant (Czech voice)
Reception
Variety wrote that the film: "has has quality, mainly because of the shrewd and observant direction by Jiri Weiss, who is probably the most internationally known and respected of all Czech directors. It is largely thanks to this thoughtful direction that the film does not wind up as a trite, cliche-ridden piece of celluloid, but as a meaningful drama, in which emotion plays a larger role than reason in the life of a young and attractive woman. In less competent hands, this might well have been just a novelettish yarn, though some recognition is also due to David Mercer's sensitive seript."{{Cite magazine |date=7 July 1965 |title=Ninety Degrees in the Shade |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/964057456 |url-access=subscription |magazine=Variety |pages=6 |via=ProQuest |volume=239 |issue=7}}
Awards and nominations
Berlin International Film Festival: Won, "UNICRIT Award" – Jiří Weiss.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}
Golden Globe Award: Nominated, "Best English-Language Foreign Film".{{Cite web |title=Ninety Degrees in the Shade |url=https://goldenglobes.com/film/90-degrees-in-the-shade/ |access-date=13 January 2025 |website=Golden Globes}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0059512}}
- {{TCMDb title|id=85058|title=Ninety Degrees in the Shade}}
- [http://homecinema.thedigitalfix.co.uk/content/id/73774/ninety-degrees-in-the-shade.html The Digital Fix DVD review]
Category:Czechoslovak drama films
Category:English-language Czech films
Category:Films directed by Jiří Weiss
Category:1965 crime drama films
Category:1960s crime thriller films
Category:Czech black-and-white films
Category:Czechoslovak black-and-white films
Category:British black-and-white films
Category:1960s English-language films