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I had contacted them about the set a while back, but stopped hearing from them when I asked if I could reimburse them for shipping rather than arranging a courier. If anyone else in the US has better luck, or can find a reasonably priced courier to help out, let me know - the set sounds amazing.

Received word from Filmoteka Narodowa a couple hours ago. Now to find a courier...](*,)

Just got off the phone with UPS. It looks like they would charge $130 all told, with or without insurance for a $100 value. I was really hoping it would be more like $100 at the most. Oh well, going to keep looking.

EDIT: FedEx wants $170 according to their phone system (before declaring a value), and DHL can't tell me unless I call Poland or use their Polish web site, which doesn't appear to be English-friendly. Oddly, the FedEx automated value wasalmost identical to what I saw from UPS' online interface, but when I called them and spoke to a rep, he entered in the information and came out with just under $130.

](*,) ](*,) ](*,)

Not sure what to do here. My experience has always been that UPS are pricey and I'm worried that they're ripping me off, but if FedEx wants $40 more (or even if I can get a phone rep to match UPS) this is still very expensive.

Can someone weigh in on the quality of the packaging and the book? Are they higher quality than items that are produced en masse like, say, The Prisioner Blu-ray box set that Network produced? Also, how are the discs stored?

For "The Saragossa Manuscript," I am trying to locate either subtitles in Polish or, even better, the screenplay in Polish. I have found a few sites that claim to offer Polish subtitles, but they have all without exception turned out to be English subtitles. Can anyone point me to a likely source, especially for the screenplay?

--Mark

Finally something new in the Telewizja Kino Polska series, this time from Wojciech Jerzy Has.

From Facebook:

Już 18 października do sklepów trafi box z filmami Wojciecha Jerzego Hasa po cyfrowej rekonstrukcji: Sanatorium pod klepsydrą i Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie. Box zawierać będzie jeszcze dwa bardzo ciekawe dokumenty o Hasie portretujące go jako człowieka, reżysera, pedagoga: Ze snu sen (40 min) i Ślady (52 min).

Or in English, a double bill of The Saragossa Manuscript and The Hourglass Sanatorium.

Which I have to say is a tad disappointing - obviously, if you don't have the films already, it's a must-buy (especially given that the phrase "cyfrowej rekonstrukcji" suggests that they'll be the recent restorations), but there's lots more Has out there that hasn't yet been released with English subtitles. (I have his entire feature output on DVD, but most of it only has French subtitles).

Still, if it's as cheap as usual I'll probably buy it just for the documentaries. And since the artwork promises four discs, I suspect there's at least one more feature in the package, if not two.

L.A. wrote:Finally something new in the Telewizja Kino Polska series, this time from Wojciech Jerzy Has.

Now listed at Merlin.pl and Punkt44.pl for example.

Oh dear - the artwork's changed to '3xDVD'.

Which suggests that Saragossa, Hourglass and the two documentaries may be the lot.

MichaelB wrote: ...there's lots more Has out there that hasn't yet been released with English subtitles.

...buy it just for the documentaries. And since the artwork promises four discs...

Artwork actually indicates 3 DVDs, so probably 2 documentaries are on the third, bonus, disk. Can't find any mentioning of subtitles though - do we know they will with English ones?

videozor wrote:Can't find any mentioning of subtitles though - do we know they will with English ones?

Every other package in this series definitely has English subtitles, so it's a reasonable assumption.

I'll be in Kraków over the last weekend of October, so can easily check the back of the package if it hasn't been independently confirmed by then.

MichaelB wrote:

videozor wrote:Can't find any mentioning of subtitles though - do we know they will with English ones?

Every other package in this series definitely has English subtitles, so it's a reasonable assumption.

I'll be in Kraków over the last weekend of October, so can easily check the back of the package if it hasn't been independently confirmed by then.

Thank you very much!

As promised, I am now in Kraków and have just picked up a copy of the Has box in Empik. I can't play it until I get home, but I'm very happy to confirm that English subtitles are explicitly promised on everything, including the extras.

And it does indeed seem to be a four-disc box, though discs one and two contain the two halves of The Saragossa Manuscript, disc three The Hourglass Sanatorium, and disc four the documentaries Ze snu sen (1998, 40 mins) and Ślady (2012, 53 mins).

I can't confirm aspect ratios yet - the back of the box merely says '16x9', which is Polish for "anamorphically enhanced". But I'll check as soon as I get home on Sunday. If all's well, this is by far the best way of getting to see these films.

Duplicate post

Duplicate post

Is there any reason to own this except for the extras if someone owns the restored Mr Bongo editions of the two aforementioned films?

Further details on the Has box, now that I've managed to examine the actual discs.

Aspect ratios are 2.35:1 for The Saragossa Manuscript and 1.85:1 for The Hourglass Sanatorium - i.e. the same as the Mr Bongo versions. No great surprise, as they're sourced from the same digital restorations. The contentious one is The Hourglass Sanatorium, which notionally should be 2.35:1 as well - but the restoration was signed off by the film's cinematographer and there honestly isn't the slightest compositional sign that 1.85:1 is incorrect, so I'd be curious to compare framegrabs with a 2.35:1 version. And The Saragossa Manuscript is indeed split across two discs (the divide respects the film's two original parts), though I suspect this is very much to the benefit of the overall bitrate. It might be superior to Mr Bongo's single-disc edition in that respect, but I haven't compared the two directly.

The two documentaries definitely have English subtitles, which translate the titles as Traces and Out of a Dream, A Dream.

Additional extras not mentioned on the box are trailers and restoration demos for both the main features, plus a hefty but Polish-only booklet.

If you already own the 2011 Mr Bongo discs (i.e. not the original late-2000s releases), there's probably not much point going for this edition - but if you don't, the Telewizja Kinopolska box is an easy first choice, thanks to its far more generous extras for a pretty similar price.

Thank you, MichaelB for this information!
What's the best online source to order this set?
Thanks in advance!

Merlin.pl is my regular supplier, because they've never let me down and their packaging would stop a tank - and their prices seem competitive with everyone else's.

Thanks again!
What we all would be doing without MichaelB...

Saving our wallet a lot of dough...

Jerzy Kawalerowicz - Kolekcja



Jerzy Stefan Stawiński - Kolekcja

Ooh, that's excellent news - I was a bit worried by the long gap between the Ford and Has boxes, but it sounds as though they're cranking things up again.

And the Kawalerowicz box says 'Rekonstrukcja cyfrowa' on the front, so they'll be the new digital restorations. Second Run have already put the first two out, and Austeria looked superb on the Polish Blu-ray of a couple of years back.

Anyway, these are the titles:

Kawalerowicz
• Night Train (Pociąg, 1959)
• Mother Joan of the Angels (Matka Joanna od aniołów, 1960)
• Pharaoh (Faraon, 1965)
• Austeria (1982)

(This is a really superb set: I suspect most people would pick those titles if asked to single out Kawalerowicz's top four, and I suspect Kawalerowicz himself might have agreed.)

Stawinski
• Before the Leaves Fall (Rozwodów nie będzie, 1963)
• Penguin (Pingwin, 1964)
• Christmas Eve (Wieczór przedświąteczny, 1966)

And I've just updated my Telewizja Kinopolska master list.

I just need Pharao from the first set, hopefully there will be a standalone release soon.

MichaelB wrote:Ooh, that's excellent news - I was a bit worried by the long gap between the Ford and Has boxes, but it sounds as though they're cranking things up again.

And the Kawalerowicz box says 'Rekonstrukcja cyfrowa' on the front, so they'll be the new digital restorations. Second Run have already put the first two out, and Austeria looked superb on the Polish Blu-ray of a couple of years back.

Anyway, these are the titles:

Kawalerowicz
• Night Train (Pociąg, 1959)
• Mother Joan of the Angels (Matka Joanna od aniołów, 1960)
• Pharaoh (Faraon, 1965)
• Austeria (1982)

(This is a really superb set: I suspect most people would pick those titles if asked to single out Kawalerowicz's top four, and I suspect Kawalerowicz himself might have agreed.)

Stawinski
• Before the Leaves Fall (Rozwodów nie będzie, 1963)
• Penguin (Pingwin, 1964)
• Christmas Eve (Wieczór przedświąteczny, 1966)

And I've just updated my Telewizja Kinopolska master list.

I'm hoping I'll be able to pick these up at a knock-down price by the time I've made sufficient inroads into my huge 'unwatched' pile(s)

L.A. wrote:

Jerzy Kawalerowicz - Kolekcja



Jerzy Stefan Stawiński - Kolekcja

Hello, I do not speak very good English.
Great news the new remastered dvd with Pharaoh. It's one of my favorite movies.
Does anyone have the dvd?. All pages listed for sale Faraon lasts 175 minutes. This duration is the full version. But a friend told me that aired on tv a remastered version of 145 minutes.
If someone can get me out of doubt I would appreciate.

I want to pick up the Austeria Blu (R0 and english subs, yes?) where would be a good place to do that online?