Radok planned to study journalism and theatre in Prague, but after German occupation all universities were closed down by the Nazis.

[2] He then started his own amateur theatre company called Mladá scéna with his brother Emil in Valašské Meziříčí.

In Czechoslovakia Otakar Vávra and other communist executives in the state controlled film industry were critical of the movie.

As a result, it only received a limited release in provincial cinemas, however internationally the film achieved critical success.

His collaborators were scenographer Josef Svoboda, screenwriter Miloš Forman and directors Emil Radok, Vladimír Svitáček and Ján Roháč.

Laterna Magika was a huge success at the Expo and the permanent scene was created at The New Stage of the National Theatre in Prague in 1959.