Valley of Fear

 

1983, Czechoslovakia

Aka… Brakýri / 'Poachers' (Cz); Brakýři 1 Údolí strachu / ‘Poachers - Valley of Fear’ (Cz), Brakýři 2 Poslední výstřel / ‘Poachers - The Last Shot’ (Cz)

Ex… ‘The Dachsbrackes’ (Cz)

T: 137m, 2x69m

Dist: Československá televize Praha (1983, Cz)

D: Jiří Adamec; St: Arthur Conan Doyle (1915); T: Jan Křtitel Sýkora; Ph: Antonín Kovács & Jan Hušek; M: Zdeněk Rytíř

C: Vladimír Kratina (Jack McMurdo, aka Birdy Edwards), Petr Haničinec (Jack McGinty), Jiří Bartoška (Teddy Baldwin), Jana Švandová (Ettie Shafter), Lukáš Vaculík (Alan Shafter, teenager), Zdeněk Řehoř (Mr. Shafter), Ladislav Pešek (Newspaper Editor), Jiří Zahajský (Jenkins), Hana Talpová (Widow McNamara), Miloš Skalka (Michael Stein), Zdeněk Rytíř, Jan Přeučil (Gower), Petr Pospíchal (Novinár), Ladislav Mrkvička (Mausel), Miroslav Moravec (Dr. Adams), Josef Langmiler (Dr. Kern), Jiří Krampol (Tiger Cormack), Antonín Jedlička (Post office clerk), Jiří Holý (Constable Dolby), Karel Heřmánek (Captain Marvin), Antonín Hardt (Captain Ben Hunt), Vladimír Dlouhý (Mike Scanlan), Otakar Brousek (Judge Oswald), Vlastimil Bedrna (Sergeant Greg), Miroslav Zounar (Dr. Morris), Zdenek Rytír (Mex, the Mexican) & Michal Tučný ([?])

Syn: Ku-Klux-Klan. (Part 1) In the town of Wermisly in the state of Minnesota, a court trial is currently underway involving the McGinty gang. Berdy Edwards is also listed as a crown witness. The motion for him not to be present in court has been denied by the judge.

A stranger arrives by train. He introduces himself to the conductor as Jack McMurdo, a member of the Order of Free Brothers. There is another man from the same organization on the train, and he continues his journey with him. Jack lodges with Mr. Shafter. The business is no longer run by the old man, but by his daughter Ettie. She offers Jack food for eight dollars a week. She herself is about to marry Eddie Baldwin, the owner of the funeral home and a tough guy. Jack encounters him just as he is reaching for Ettie, leading to a conflict. Jenkins shoots Baldwin's gun out of his hand, and Jack deals with him himself thereafter.

From Jenkins, a member of the KKK brotherhood also emerges, and he is amazed that Jack has fallen out with the person who is highest here. Only one is still above him, and that is McGinty. Jenkins reproaches Jack for not having approached him - as the grandmaster - yet. The two then meet at a pub, and the grandmaster is quite annoyed, but he still gives Jack some attention. He extracts from him that Jack was producing counterfeit coins, and he immediately shows several of them. He is officially accepted into the lodge. Then he confesses his love to Ettie, and she reciprocates it. The engagement is called off, which displeases her fiancé greatly, and he wants to provoke a shootout in the saloon.

However, McGinty will prevent that. Ettie's father also wants Jack to leave. Allegedly, a huge organization stands behind Baldwin, namely the wreckers, and they can do anything. Jack refuses to leave. And then he is accepted among the wreckers in full, including the initiation

(Part 2) Among the gang, an article in the newspaper is being discussed, calling for resistance from the ordinary population. It is decided that some intimidating action must take place. So, one evening, the Ku Klux Klan, meaning the trashers, bursts into the Shafters' home. They beat up an old man, and during this, a dispute arises again between Jack & Teddy Baldwin. Ettie's father confides in Jack his discomfort with the lodge. The next day, McGinty knows about the conversation but does not know its content. Jack is arrested for violence committed against a journalist, but then he is released because the journalist retracted his statement. At the next meeting of the trashers, a motion is voted against the latest enemy, Chester Wilcox.

It has been decided about his death; the task is to be carried out by Jack. He will handle it properly, so there will not be a trace left of the house. But Chester escaped. Moreover, Jack learns that there is a man from the security agency somewhere here, supposedly their best detective. Therefore, he chooses to flee. But he doesn't run far; he eventually ends up with several men in a room, waiting for the arrival of an agent who knows too much. Their surprise will know no bounds.

       Comm: Czech TV adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1915 story ‘Valley of Fear’, made without either Sherlock Holmes or Dr. Watson, done as a western no less.  Which surprisingly isn’t that strange as the character of ‘Jack McMurdo’, in the story is said to have been … ‘a Pinkerton detective in Chicago, who infiltrated a corrupt coal miners trade union, secretly a cover for a murderous gang known as the Scowrers'. And that the first Holmes novel, “A Study in Scarlet”, (1887) is partially set in Utah’s Salt Lake Valley during 1847.  Na zdraví.

[By Michael Ferguson, notes from David Shaw]