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.
Otomar Krejča
Luba Skořepová
Vladimír Šmeral
Ladislav Kulhánek
Karel Dostal
Rudolf Deyl
Felix le Breux
Růžena Šlemrová
Ludmila Píchová
Emil Bolek
František Holar
Viktor Očásek
Bohumil Machník
Vladimír Hlavatý
Jiří Těšík
Rudolf Hrušínský
Marie Nademlejnská
Břetislav Hrstka
Robert Morávek
Karel Hynek
Jan S. Kolár
Bohuslav Kupšovský
Arnošt Mirský
Marta Májová
Gabriel Hart
Milada Smolíková
Emanuel Hříbal
Bohumil Švarc
Arno Velecký
Blažena Slavíčková
Jan W. Speerger
Jaroslav Orlický
Antonín Soukup
Dagmar Toužimská
Zora Božinová
Ludmila Burešová