Ján Kadár
Encyclopedia
Ján Kadár was a Slovak
film writer and director. As a filmmaker, he worked in Slovakia
, the Czech Republic, the United States
, and Canada
. Most of his films were directed in tandem with Elmar Klos
. The two became best known for their Oscar-winning
The Shop on Main Street
(Obchod na korze, 1965). As a professor at the FAMU (Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts) in Prague
, Kadár trained most of the directors who spawned the Czechoslovak/Czech New Wave
in the 1960s. His personal life as well as his films encompassed and spanned a range of cultures: Jewish, Slovak, Hungarian, Czech, and American
.
, a province of Austria–Hungary at that time. Before long, his parents brought him to Rožňava
, Slovakia
, in the newly created Czechoslovakia
, where he grew up. Kadár took up the law in Bratislava
after high school, but soon transferred to the first Department of Film in Czechoslovakia (probably the third such department in Europe) at the School of Industrial Arts in Bratislava
in 1938 where he took classes with Slovak film's
notable director Karel Plicka until the department was closed in 1939. Kadár's home town, called Rozsnyó
in Hungarian then, became part of Hungary
during World War II
. With the application of anti-Jewish laws, Kádár was detained in a labor camp. He later said that it was for the first time in his life that he acted as a Jew: he refused conversion and served in a work unit with a yellow armband rather than a white one which was the privilege of those baptized.
, Slovakia
, after World War II
with the documentary Life Is Rising from the Ruins (Na troskách vyrastá život, 1945). After several documentaries expressive of the views of the Communist Party, which he joined, Kadár moved to Prague
in 1947 and returned to Bratislava
temporarily in order to make his first feature film
Kathy (Katka, 1950). Beginning from 1952, he co-directed all his Czechoslovak
films with Elmar Klos
solely in Prague
except their Czech−Slovak projects Death Is Called Engelchen , The Shop on Main Street
(Obchod na korze, 1965), and Adrift shot with Slovak, Hungarian, and Czech actors on location at Rusovce
, Slovakia
. Kadár returned to finish the latter one from the United States
where he immigrated in November 1968. It was his last work with Klos
. He then resumed his career in the U.S. and Canada working in both films and television. He was also a popular professor of film directing at the American Film Institute
's Center for Advanced Film Studies.
doctrine and adhering to Socialist-Realist
filmmaking, Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos
first bounced between comedy and hard-core propaganda. Kadár's first feature film
Kathy (Katka, 1950) made before he teamed up with Klos was little different in this respect from their subsequent joint work. Their choice of themes began to change with the first, mild relaxation of communism in Czechoslovakia after Soviet leader Khrushchev's secret speech
in 1956. Kadár and Klos's first film during this minor thaw, Three Wishes (Tři přání, 1958), a cagey satire on aspects of everyday life, outraged the authorities and was shelved until the more relaxed conditions in 1963. The studios suspended both directors for two years. Their Communist Party membership protected them from a worse fate, however, and Kadár was able to find a refuge in semi-propagandist, technically avant-garde work for the early Czechoslovak multi-screen shows at the Laterna magika (Magic Lantern) project.
Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos
were able to make in five years showed a decided return to classical black-and-white fimmkaking with barely a trace of Kadár's more experimental work at the Laterna magika. A gradual relaxation of communist control in Czechoslovakia
, whose first signs came from Slovakia
, enabled the Bratislava
journalist and writer Ladislav Mňačko
to publish his novel Death Is Called Engelchen (Smrť sa volá Engelchen, 1959) and Kadár and Klos to reach for it from Prague
after their suspension was over. The novel and their film Death Is Called Engelchen spotlighted a new take on the massive pro-democratic Slovak revolt of 1944
that had previously been portrayed only as invariably glorious. It showed some of its aspects that brought about human tragedy. The directors' next film, Accused aka Defendant (Obžalovaný, 1964), rehashed the propagandist structures of the earlier Socialist-Realist
filmmaking, but turned them around by replacing the content mandated in the 1950s with committed social criticism that was quickly becoming one of the hallmarks of Slovak
and Czech
cinema of the 1960s.
All of these experiences and influences intersected to bring Kadár and Klos
their enduring success with The Shop on Main Street
(Obchod na korze, 1965), a compassionate and tormenting depiction of the dead-end street faced by many in Central Europe
during the World-War-II
deportations of the Jews
to German concentration camps
. The film received several awards, including a foreign-language Oscar
. Slovak and Czech film academics and critics still consider it the best film in the history of Slovak
, as well as Czech
cinema.
Kadár and Klos's work on their next project based on the Hungarian novel Something Is Drifting on the Water (Valamit visz a víz, 1928) by Lajos Zilahy
, and, effectively, a remake of the Hungarian film with the English international title Something Is in the Water (Valamit visz a víz, dir. Gusztáv Oláh and Lajos Zilahy
, 1943) was interrupted by the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia
in August 1968. Ján Kadár and his family quickly resettled in the United States, and although he returned briefly to help finish the film released as Adrift , his involvement was limited by comparison to his previous work with Klos. That was also the last time that the two directors met.
since 1950 was The Angel Levine
(1970), a substantially modified version of Bernard Malamud
's short story "Angel Levine" (1958). He later directed "Lies My Father Told Me" in Canada
Slovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...
film writer and director. As a filmmaker, he worked in Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, the Czech Republic, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Most of his films were directed in tandem with Elmar Klos
Elmar Klos
Elmar Klos was a Czechoslovakian film director who collaborated for 17 years with Ján Kadár and with him won the 1965 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with the film The Shop on Main Street.-References:...
. The two became best known for their Oscar-winning
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
The Shop on Main Street
The Shop on Main Street
The Shop on Main Street is a 1965 Czechoslovak film about the Aryanization programme during World War II in the Slovak State....
(Obchod na korze, 1965). As a professor at the FAMU (Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts) in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Kadár trained most of the directors who spawned the Czechoslovak/Czech New Wave
Czechoslovak New Wave
The Czechoslovak New Wave is a term used for the early films of 1960s Czech directors Miloš Forman, Věra Chytilová, Ivan Passer, Jaroslav Papoušek, Jiří Menzel, Jan Němec, Jaromil Jireš, Vojtěch Jasný, Evald Schorm and Slovak directors Juraj Herz, Juraj Jakubisko, Štefan Uher, Ján Kádár, Elo...
in the 1960s. His personal life as well as his films encompassed and spanned a range of cultures: Jewish, Slovak, Hungarian, Czech, and American
Culture of the United States
The Culture of the United States is a Western culture originally influenced by European cultures. It has been developing since long before the United States became a country with its own unique social and cultural characteristics such as dialect, music, arts, social habits, cuisine, and folklore...
.
Early years
Kadár was born in Budapest, the Capital of the Kingdom of HungaryKingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
, a province of Austria–Hungary at that time. Before long, his parents brought him to Rožňava
Rožnava
Rožňava is a town in Slovakia, approximately 71 km by road from Košice in the Košice Region, and has a population of 19,120.The town is an economic and tourist center of the Gemer. Rožňava is now a popular tourist attraction with a beautiful historic town centre. The town is an episcopal seat...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, in the newly created Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, where he grew up. Kadár took up the law in Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
after high school, but soon transferred to the first Department of Film in Czechoslovakia (probably the third such department in Europe) at the School of Industrial Arts in Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
in 1938 where he took classes with Slovak film's
Cinema of Slovakia
The cinema of Slovakia encompasses a range of themes and styles typical of European cinema. Yet there are a certain number of recurring themes that are visible in the majority of the important works. These include rural settings, folk traditions, and carnival...
notable director Karel Plicka until the department was closed in 1939. Kadár's home town, called Rozsnyó
Rožnava
Rožňava is a town in Slovakia, approximately 71 km by road from Košice in the Košice Region, and has a population of 19,120.The town is an economic and tourist center of the Gemer. Rožňava is now a popular tourist attraction with a beautiful historic town centre. The town is an episcopal seat...
in Hungarian then, became part of Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. With the application of anti-Jewish laws, Kádár was detained in a labor camp. He later said that it was for the first time in his life that he acted as a Jew: he refused conversion and served in a work unit with a yellow armband rather than a white one which was the privilege of those baptized.
Overview
Ján Kadár began his directing career in BratislavaBratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
with the documentary Life Is Rising from the Ruins (Na troskách vyrastá život, 1945). After several documentaries expressive of the views of the Communist Party, which he joined, Kadár moved to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
in 1947 and returned to Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
temporarily in order to make his first feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
Kathy (Katka, 1950). Beginning from 1952, he co-directed all his Czechoslovak
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
films with Elmar Klos
Elmar Klos
Elmar Klos was a Czechoslovakian film director who collaborated for 17 years with Ján Kadár and with him won the 1965 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with the film The Shop on Main Street.-References:...
solely in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
except their Czech−Slovak projects Death Is Called Engelchen , The Shop on Main Street
The Shop on Main Street
The Shop on Main Street is a 1965 Czechoslovak film about the Aryanization programme during World War II in the Slovak State....
(Obchod na korze, 1965), and Adrift shot with Slovak, Hungarian, and Czech actors on location at Rusovce
Rusovce
Rusovce castle")) is a borough in southern Bratislava on the right bank of the Danube river, close to the Hungarian border.- History :In the 1st century, there was a Roman settlement named Gerulata in today's Rusovce area. The first preserved written reference to the settlement is from 1208. It...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
. Kadár returned to finish the latter one from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
where he immigrated in November 1968. It was his last work with Klos
Elmar Klos
Elmar Klos was a Czechoslovakian film director who collaborated for 17 years with Ján Kadár and with him won the 1965 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with the film The Shop on Main Street.-References:...
. He then resumed his career in the U.S. and Canada working in both films and television. He was also a popular professor of film directing at the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
's Center for Advanced Film Studies.
1950s
While touting the obligatory Marxist-LeninistMarxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
doctrine and adhering to Socialist-Realist
Socialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
filmmaking, Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos
Elmar Klos
Elmar Klos was a Czechoslovakian film director who collaborated for 17 years with Ján Kadár and with him won the 1965 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with the film The Shop on Main Street.-References:...
first bounced between comedy and hard-core propaganda. Kadár's first feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
Kathy (Katka, 1950) made before he teamed up with Klos was little different in this respect from their subsequent joint work. Their choice of themes began to change with the first, mild relaxation of communism in Czechoslovakia after Soviet leader Khrushchev's secret speech
On the Personality Cult and its Consequences
On the Personality Cult and its Consequences was a report, critical of Joseph Stalin, made to the Twentieth Party Congress on February 25, 1956 by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. It is more commonly known as the Secret Speech or the Khrushchev Report...
in 1956. Kadár and Klos's first film during this minor thaw, Three Wishes (Tři přání, 1958), a cagey satire on aspects of everyday life, outraged the authorities and was shelved until the more relaxed conditions in 1963. The studios suspended both directors for two years. Their Communist Party membership protected them from a worse fate, however, and Kadár was able to find a refuge in semi-propagandist, technically avant-garde work for the early Czechoslovak multi-screen shows at the Laterna magika (Magic Lantern) project.
1960s
The first feature filmFeature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos
Elmar Klos
Elmar Klos was a Czechoslovakian film director who collaborated for 17 years with Ján Kadár and with him won the 1965 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with the film The Shop on Main Street.-References:...
were able to make in five years showed a decided return to classical black-and-white fimmkaking with barely a trace of Kadár's more experimental work at the Laterna magika. A gradual relaxation of communist control in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, whose first signs came from Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, enabled the Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
journalist and writer Ladislav Mňačko
Ladislav Mňačko
Ladislav Mňačko was a Slovak writer and journalist. He took part in the partisan movement in Slovakia during World War II. After the war, he was at first a staunch supporter of the Czechoslovak Communist regime and one of its most prominent journalists...
to publish his novel Death Is Called Engelchen (Smrť sa volá Engelchen, 1959) and Kadár and Klos to reach for it from Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
after their suspension was over. The novel and their film Death Is Called Engelchen spotlighted a new take on the massive pro-democratic Slovak revolt of 1944
Slovak National Uprising
The Slovak National Uprising or 1944 Uprising was an armed insurrection organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. It was launched on August 29 1944 from Banská Bystrica in an attempt to overthrow the collaborationist Slovak State of Jozef Tiso...
that had previously been portrayed only as invariably glorious. It showed some of its aspects that brought about human tragedy. The directors' next film, Accused aka Defendant (Obžalovaný, 1964), rehashed the propagandist structures of the earlier Socialist-Realist
Socialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
filmmaking, but turned them around by replacing the content mandated in the 1950s with committed social criticism that was quickly becoming one of the hallmarks of Slovak
Cinema of Slovakia
The cinema of Slovakia encompasses a range of themes and styles typical of European cinema. Yet there are a certain number of recurring themes that are visible in the majority of the important works. These include rural settings, folk traditions, and carnival...
and Czech
Cinema of the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic was a seedbed for many acclaimed film directors.Three Czech/Czechoslovak movies that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film were The Shop on Main Street by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos in 1965, Closely Watched Trains by Jiří Menzel in 1967 and...
cinema of the 1960s.
All of these experiences and influences intersected to bring Kadár and Klos
Elmar Klos
Elmar Klos was a Czechoslovakian film director who collaborated for 17 years with Ján Kadár and with him won the 1965 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with the film The Shop on Main Street.-References:...
their enduring success with The Shop on Main Street
The Shop on Main Street
The Shop on Main Street is a 1965 Czechoslovak film about the Aryanization programme during World War II in the Slovak State....
(Obchod na korze, 1965), a compassionate and tormenting depiction of the dead-end street faced by many in Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
during the World-War-II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
deportations of the Jews
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
to German concentration camps
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
. The film received several awards, including a foreign-language Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
. Slovak and Czech film academics and critics still consider it the best film in the history of Slovak
Cinema of Slovakia
The cinema of Slovakia encompasses a range of themes and styles typical of European cinema. Yet there are a certain number of recurring themes that are visible in the majority of the important works. These include rural settings, folk traditions, and carnival...
, as well as Czech
Cinema of the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic was a seedbed for many acclaimed film directors.Three Czech/Czechoslovak movies that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film were The Shop on Main Street by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos in 1965, Closely Watched Trains by Jiří Menzel in 1967 and...
cinema.
Kadár and Klos's work on their next project based on the Hungarian novel Something Is Drifting on the Water (Valamit visz a víz, 1928) by Lajos Zilahy
Lajos Zilahy
Lajos Zilahy was a Hungarian novelist and playwright. Born in Nagyszalonta in Transylvania, then part of the Kingdom of Hungary, a province in Austria-Hungary, he studied law at the University of Budapest before serving in the Austro-Hungarian army during the First World War, in which he was...
, and, effectively, a remake of the Hungarian film with the English international title Something Is in the Water (Valamit visz a víz, dir. Gusztáv Oláh and Lajos Zilahy
Lajos Zilahy
Lajos Zilahy was a Hungarian novelist and playwright. Born in Nagyszalonta in Transylvania, then part of the Kingdom of Hungary, a province in Austria-Hungary, he studied law at the University of Budapest before serving in the Austro-Hungarian army during the First World War, in which he was...
, 1943) was interrupted by the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...
in August 1968. Ján Kadár and his family quickly resettled in the United States, and although he returned briefly to help finish the film released as Adrift , his involvement was limited by comparison to his previous work with Klos. That was also the last time that the two directors met.
1970s
Ján Kadár's first film after immigration to the United States and his first solo feature filmFeature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
since 1950 was The Angel Levine
The Angel Levine
The Angel Levine is a 1970 U.S. film directed by Jan Kadar and based on a short story by Bernard Malamud. The film is about an impoverished New York City tailor who is unable to work due to health problems, which creates a financial strain since his wife is seriously ill...
(1970), a substantially modified version of Bernard Malamud
Bernard Malamud
Bernard Malamud was an author of novels and short stories. Along with Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, he was one of the great American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseball novel, The Natural, was adapted into a 1984 film starring Robert Redford...
's short story "Angel Levine" (1958). He later directed "Lies My Father Told Me" in Canada
Filmography
- Life Is Rising from the Ruins (Na troskách vyrastá život, 1945)
- They Are Personally Responsible for Crimes against Humanity (Sú osobne zodpovední za zločiny proti ľudskosti, 1946)
- They Are Personally Responsible for a Betrayal of the National Uprising (Sú osobne zodpovední za zradu na národnom povstaní, 1946)
- Katka (1950)
- The Hijacking; aka Kidnapped (Únos, 1952)
- Music from Mars (Hudba z Marsu, 1954)
- House at the Terminus (Dům na konečné, 1957)
- Three Wishes (Tři přání, 1958)
- Death is Called Engelchen
- Accused (Obžalovaný, also known as Defendant, 1964)
- The Shop on Main StreetThe Shop on Main StreetThe Shop on Main Street is a 1965 Czechoslovak film about the Aryanization programme during World War II in the Slovak State....
(Obchod na korze, 1965) - Adrift
- The Angel LevineThe Angel LevineThe Angel Levine is a 1970 U.S. film directed by Jan Kadar and based on a short story by Bernard Malamud. The film is about an impoverished New York City tailor who is unable to work due to health problems, which creates a financial strain since his wife is seriously ill...
(1970) - Lies My Father Told MeLies My Father Told MeLies My Father Told Me is a 1975 Canadian film made in Montreal, Quebec. It was directed by Ján Kadár and stars Jeffrey Lynas as an orthodox Jewish boy growing up in 1920s Montreal....
(1976) - The Case against Milligan (1976)