Kozlonoh and Učitel orientálních jazyků are examples of movies made by Czech filmmakers during the final months of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Both titles are connected by the production company Lucernafilm and the name of first Czech female director, Olga Rautenkranzová.
In Czech silent cinema only a few women were involved in filmmaking other than as actress. Some actresses managed their own companies, others became screenwriters, but only three also worked as directors. None of them became financially successful filmmakers: they usually made only a few movies and after that there are no traces of them.
Olga Rautenkranzová is the typical case of an actress-director with a short-lived film career. She was born 1891 in Prague where she studied acting with the famous theatre actress Marie Hübnerová. After graduating she worked in theaters in various cities as an actress and dancer. She made her screen debut in 1918 with Kozlonoh. Even before the first title was distributed Rautenkranzová was hired to make another one, Učitel orientálních jazyků.
From the beginning Rautenkranzová had a strained relationship with the second director, the scriptwriter Jan S. Kolár, who claimed in an interview published many years later that he had taken most of the decisions during production.
When it comes to the movies themselves, they are characterized by different genres, stories and film styles. Kozlonoh was designed in a rococo style and shot mostly in exteriors. The second movie is a contemporary comedy. They have in common the early use of a dream vision in Czech cinema. In Kozlonoh it serves as a frame story and in the second film it reveals the secret desire of one of the characters.
After these movies Rautenkranzová disappeared from public life; little is known even about the distribution of her films. As with many other Czech movies they probably could not compete with imported films and did not make much money for the producer.

Michal Večeřa