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MichaelB wrote:Dekalog was commissioned by and made for Polish television. At the time, the notion that the series might be screened in cinemas in its entirety would have been utter fantasy - and in any case, 1.37:1 was still a recognised theatrical ratio back then in Poland.

Now it's certainly plausible - indeed likely - that the two feature-length films were consciously protected for 1.66:1 at the time of shooting, but what would have been the rationale for doing this elsewhere? Especially given that different cinematographers worked on each episode? And why would the film have been cropped for broadcast when 4:3 broadcast was not merely the primary but at the time of production the only intended medium? This makes no sense to me at all.

Thanks, MichaelB. I was just floating the idea for those more knowledgable to either shoot down or support.

There's been several made-for-TV productions, shot in the era prior to widescreen TV, that were shot in wide formats and adjusted to 4:3 for broadcast, e.g. Pride and Prejudice (1995). I was wondering whether this could potentially be the case here and that it was the original broadcast that was actually the travesty, as opposed to modern re-releases.

By the mid-1990s, the BBC had already started transitioning to widescreen formats, but that certainly wasn't true of late 1980s Poland. I'm happy to be corrected by someone more knowledgeable, but I would personally be astonished if the sole intended aspect ratio was anything other than 4:3.

Not least because Kieślowski was a very experienced television director.

MichaelB wrote:Dekalog was commissioned by and made for Polish television. At the time, the notion that the series might be screened in cinemas in its entirety would have been utter fantasy - and in any case, 1.37:1 was still a recognised theatrical ratio back then in Poland.

Now it's certainly plausible - indeed likely - that the two feature-length films were consciously protected for 1.66:1 at the time of shooting, but what would have been the rationale for doing this elsewhere? Especially given that different cinematographers worked on each episode? And why would the film have been cropped for broadcast when 4:3 broadcast was not merely the primary but at the time of production the only intended medium? This makes no sense to me at all.

To back this up further, episodes 5 & 6 are hard-matted for 1.66:1 or thereabouts. They were framed deliberately for theatrical projection, even when they were broadcast on TV. The other episodes are all open matte at 1.37:1 (or 1.33:1). It is implausible that that Kieslowski intended the entire series for widescreen projection if he only hard-matted two of the episodes.

I'm not happy about the fact that I pre-ordered the set for our library, but at least I didn't buy it for myself. I'll stick with the superior Polish DVD set for now. Very frustrating and disappointing!

Well, not only does Potop appear to be confirmed as one disc, it seems it's also 1080/50i, with a run time of 287 minutes. Hopefully screenshots and the BDInfo scan will be available soon (let's see if it is the stated 2.35:1, as I thought it was meant to be 2.20:1) but, definitely one to avoid, I'd say:

http://poral.eu/potop_wersja_kinowa.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hopefully Arrow, Criterion or MoC can get their hands on the film and do a proper 2xBD-50 edition.

Forgot to add: it seems there are similar 50Hz encodes for Pan Wołodyjowski and Ogniem i Mieczem too. I don't know the situation for the 1999 film, as I understand there was a TV cut, possibly meaning it's properly 25 fps (the same cut has also been released once before on Polish Blu-ray, by another company, at 25 fps). However, if it's the shorter theatrical cut, that would mean that only Potop Redivivus (assuming that the disc is the same one already released) is the proper 24 fps.

http://poral.eu/pan_wolodyjowski.php

http://poral.eu/ogniem_i_mieczem_ver_2.php

So, this is now a boxed set to avoid, it seems.

Somebody here is keeping a list of Polish films that have undergone restorations and is then listing their release/broadcast status: http://rekonstrukcje.blog.pl/2014/02/06 ... nstrukcji/

There's also this list being maintained of Blu-ray releases of classic Polish films: http://rekonstrukcje.blog.pl/2015/08/25 ... a-blu-ray/

Does anybody know the quality of all the Kinokuniya Japanese Blu-ray releases? They are all available on Amazon.jp but there's no reviews online or even rips made them from.

Andrzej Wajda's film of Tadeusz Kantor's The Dead Class (Umarła klasa) is available on DVD with English subtitles, complete with color-coding for overlapping and off-screen dialogue. Picture quality seems pretty solid, certainly better than the Kantor films released by Cricoteka, many of which appear to be sourced from tape. The Cricoteka releases are well worth a look though if you're even remotely interested in Kantor's theater work - I didn't have any luck ordering online from Cricoteka, but they're available through a 3rd party seller on Amazon.

Does anyone know anything about these Japanese releases of Polish films from a while back?

elcinegro wrote:POLISH FILMS
http://mermaidfilms.co.jp/dvdbd/poland/

Andrzej Munk
"Czlowiek na torze"[Man on the Tracks] (1957) Blu-ray
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Man-on-th ... ray/80655/

Andrzej Munk
"Eroica" (1958) Blu-ray
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Eroica-Blu-ray/80642/

Kazimierz Kutz
"Nikt nie wola" [Nobody's Calling] （1960）Blu-ray
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Nobodys-C ... ray/83973/

Andrzej Munk
"Zezowate szczescie" [Bad Luck]（1960）Blu-ray
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Bad-Luck-Blu-ray/83984/

Janusz Morgenstern
"Do widzenia, do jutra" [Goodbye, See You Tomorrow] (1960) Blu-ray
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Goodbye-S ... ray/88676/

Kazimierz Kutz
"Ludzie z pociagu"[People on a Train] (1961) Blu-ray
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/People-on ... ray/86734/

Wojciech Jerzy Has
"Jak byc kochana"[How to Be Loved](1963) Blu-ray
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/How-to-Be ... ray/90108/

Wojciech Jerzy Has
"Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie"[The Saragossa Manuscript]（1965）　Blu-ray
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Rekopis-z ... ray/93388/

Polish/Japanese subs

I've never seen any reviews, comments, rips, screenshots or anything about them.

TMDaines wrote:Does anyone know anything about these Japanese releases of Polish films from a while back?

elcinegro wrote:POLISH FILMS
http://mermaidfilms.co.jp/dvdbd/poland/

Andrzej Munk
"Czlowiek na torze"[Man on the Tracks] (1957) Blu-ray
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Man-on-th ... ray/80655/

Andrzej Munk
"Eroica" (1958) Blu-ray
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Eroica-Blu-ray/80642/

Kazimierz Kutz
"Nikt nie wola" [Nobody's Calling] （1960）Blu-ray
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Nobodys-C ... ray/83973/

Andrzej Munk
"Zezowate szczescie" [Bad Luck]（1960）Blu-ray
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Bad-Luck-Blu-ray/83984/

Janusz Morgenstern
"Do widzenia, do jutra" [Goodbye, See You Tomorrow] (1960) Blu-ray
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Goodbye-S ... ray/88676/

Kazimierz Kutz
"Ludzie z pociagu"[People on a Train] (1961) Blu-ray
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/People-on ... ray/86734/

Wojciech Jerzy Has
"Jak byc kochana"[How to Be Loved](1963) Blu-ray
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/How-to-Be ... ray/90108/

Wojciech Jerzy Has
"Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie"[The Saragossa Manuscript]（1965）　Blu-ray
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Rekopis-z ... ray/93388/

Polish/Japanese subs

I've never seen any reviews, comments, rips, screenshots or anything about them.

Very little:
http://poral.eu/zezowate_szczescie.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interesting, I cannot find anything on the others.

Later today I'll arrive in Warsaw for four nights, so one stop in the city will be Empik, as was the case three years ago when I was last in Poland. I'll be keeping a lookout for DVDs or Blu-rays of Polish films (which will have to have English subtitles available). I've seen quite a few recent Polish films due to covering the London Kinoteka festival but not all of the ones they showed so I'll keep an eye out for the ones I missed.

Maybe I'll get to the cinema but a Polish film will have to be shown with English "napisy" - which was the case with the showing I saw of Ida back in 2013. Not sure if anything is showing in Warsaw that way at the moment. And two new Polish films - Sługi boże and Smoleńsk are showing in Warsaw but they've just had British cinema releases, though neither of them are showing anywhere near me...

GaryC wrote:And two new Polish films - Sługi boże and Smoleńsk are showing in Warsaw but they've just had British cinema releases, though neither of them are showing anywhere near me...

Sługi boże is the better of the two by miles, but I won't spoil it as I knew nothing about it going in. Smoleńsk is mildly interesting for essentially being the Polish JFK (in that it's a riff on the various conspiracy theories surrounding the 2010 Smoleńsk plane crash that killed the President, his wife, loads of military top brass and other important people), but it's nowhere near as accomplished as Oliver Stone's film, and has been greeted with ridicule on home turf.

I found plenty of Polish films with English subtitles at Empik when I was in Poland last year. There was a decent selection of Telewizja Kino Polska releases in the Saturn store at Złote Tarasy as well.

vertovfan wrote:I found plenty of Polish films with English subtitles at Empik when I was in Poland last year. There was a decent selection of Telewizja Kino Polska releases in the Saturn store at Złote Tarasy as well.

I did too, three years ago, and bought ten of them. Watching a new Polish film in a cinema without the benefit of English subtitles is beyond me, though.

MichaelB wrote:

GaryC wrote:And two new Polish films - Sługi boże and Smoleńsk are showing in Warsaw but they've just had British cinema releases, though neither of them are showing anywhere near me...

Sługi boże is the better of the two by miles, but I won't spoil it as I knew nothing about it going in. Smoleńsk is mildly interesting for essentially being the Polish JFK (in that it's a riff on the various conspiracy theories surrounding the 2010 Smoleńsk plane crash that killed the President, his wife, loads of military top brass and other important people), but it's nowhere near as accomplished as Oliver Stone's film, and has been greeted with ridicule on home turf.

Ostatnia rodzina has just opened in Poland, and I guess you may have seen that in Gdynia?

I can't see any listing of a Polish film with an English-subtitled showing. I don't know if that's common or not, so maybe I struck lucky with Ida three years ago. So I'll likely go to see Maggie's Plan as that's showing here: I didn't see it when it opened in London.

After a trip to the Nowy Świat branch of Empik, I came away with the following, all on DVD, one for 39.99zl, the others for 29.99zl. There were two racks of "Kino Polskie" DVDs. Blu-rays are noticeably more expensive. All have English subtitles according to the packaging.

Demon
11 Minutes (11 Minut)
One Way Ticket to the Moon (Bilet na księżyc)
Jack Strong
Body (Ciało)
The Lure (Córki dancingu)
Warsaw '44 (Miasto 44)
Pitbull: New Orders (Pitbull: Nowe porządki)
Planet Single (Planeta singli)

Demon and Body were the two best new Polish films I saw in the Kinoteka Festival this year, though watched via online screeners. It turns out I'd seen One Way Ticket to the Moon before - at the same festival in 2014 - but I'm sure I can rewatch it. I haven't seen any of the others before, though many of them did have UK cinema releases on the Polish cinema circuit. Warsaw '44 doesn't appear to have been shown in the UK at all, and for various reasons - including an interest in its subject matter - I've been wanting to watch it since I first heard about it. [ETA: It went straight to DVD in the UK.]

I may review some of these in due course, though workload will be an issue. Demon is a definite candidate for my Black Static review column and it sounds like The Lure could be one too.

Ostatnia rodzina is the best Polish film of the year by some distance, but it's opening in the UK in November - and I suspect it'll be totally incomprehensible without subtitles.

MichaelB wrote:Ostatnia rodzina is the best Polish film of the year by some distance, but it's opening in the UK in November - and I suspect it'll be totally incomprehensible without subtitles.

Okay, I'll wait then.

From the other city centre branch of Empik, two more:

Facet (nie) potrzebny od zaraz (Sophie Seeks 7 in English)

Panie Dulskie (which an online translator just rendered as Mary Whitehouse...)

The former was only 8,99zl. It's one I missed at the Kinoteka festival as I wasn't sent a screener disc or link. Sadly, the director, Weronika Migon, died in 2015. She was only thirty-eight.

Panie Dulskie is a family saga that's broadly equivalent to one of those British films with Judi Dench and Maggie Smith - it's basically an excuse for Polish grandes dames like Krystyna Janda and Katarzyna Figura to chomp great big chunks out of the scenery. But I remember it being enjoyable enough.

And finally:

Galerianki (Mall Girls)

Excentrycy: Czyli po słonecznej stronie ulicy (The Eccentrics: The Sunny Side of the Street)

Pod mocnym aniołem (The Mighty Angel)

The first is the earlier film from the same director as Bejbi Blues, which was one of the ones MichaelB recommended three years ago and which I bought and watched then. The other two I think complete the new Polish films I didn't see at the Kinoteka Festival over the last three years. When I'll get to watch all of these is another matter...

I haven't seen Galerianki since it was brand new, but I remember it being very acutely observed and a fair bit less gratuitously melodramatic than Bejbi Blues (or at least that film's final scene: I remember that being pretty good up to then as well).

Excentrycy is a period film about the Polish jazz age - I've forgotten pretty much all of it, but I certainly remember enjoying it at the time.

And I must make time to watch The Mighty Angel properly - I've watched the first half an hour, but it was very late at night and it quickly became obvious that this wasn't the sort of film to watch when half asleep.

Production company Studio filmowe TOR is celebrating its 50th anniversary by launching 25 digitally restored movies on Blu-ray in keepcase and Steelbook on September 22. Here is the list:
Ucieczka z kina Wolność (Escape from the 'Liberty' Cinema) (1990),
Dzieje grzechu (Story of Sin) (1975),
Zmory (Nightmares) (1979),
Bez Końca (No End) (1985),
Życie Rodzinne (Family Life) (1971) ,
Rok Spokojnego Słońca (A Year of the Quiet Sun) (1984),
Zaklęte Rewiry (Hotel Pacific) (1975),
Krótki Film o Miłości (A Short Film About Love) (1988),
Krótki Film o Zabijaniu (A Short Film About Killing) (1988),
Dreszcze (Shivers) (1981),
Spirala (The Spiral) (1978),
Constans (The Constant Factor) (1980),
Świadectwo Urodzenia (Birth Certificate) (1961),
Rejs (Cruise) (1970),
Barwy Ochronne (Camouflage) (1977),
Medium (1985),
Blizna (The Scar) (1976),
Zazdrość i Medycyna (Jealousy and Medicine) (1973),
300 Mil do Nieba (300 Miles to Heaven) (1989),
Szpital Przemienienia (Hospital of the Transfiguration) (1979),
Iluminacja (The Illumination) (1973),
Przypadek (Blind Chance) (1987),
Lekcja Martwego Języka (Lesson of the Dead language) (1979),
Struktura Kryształu (The Structure of Crystal) (1969),
Ryś (The Lynx) (1982).

All Blu-rays have English subtitles and modest price tag.

That's incredible news - I'll be picking up many of these for sure!

http://filmozercy.com/wpis/kolekcja-pol ... studia-tor" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

djvaso wrote:Production company Studio filmowe TOR is celebrating its 50th anniversary by launching 25 digitally restored movies on Blu-ray in keepcase and Steelbook on September 22. Here is the list:
Ucieczka z kina Wolność (Escape from the 'Liberty' Cinema) (1990),
Dzieje grzechu (Story of Sin) (1975),
Zmory (Nightmares) (1979),
Bez Końca (No End) (1985),
Życie Rodzinne (Family Life) (1971) ,
Rok Spokojnego Słońca (A Year of the Quiet Sun) (1984),
Zaklęte Rewiry (Hotel Pacific) (1975),
Krótki Film o Miłości (A Short Film About Love) (1988),
Krótki Film o Zabijaniu (A Short Film About Killing) (1988),
Dreszcze (Shivers) (1981),
Spirala (The Spiral) (1978),
Constans (The Constant Factor) (1980),
Świadectwo Urodzenia (Birth Certificate) (1961),
Rejs (Cruise) (1970),
Barwy Ochronne (Camouflage) (1977),
Medium (1985),
Blizna (The Scar) (1976),
Zazdrość i Medycyna (Jealousy and Medicine) (1973),
300 Mil do Nieba (300 Miles to Heaven) (1989),
Szpital Przemienienia (Hospital of the Transfiguration) (1979),
Iluminacja (The Illumination) (1973),
Przypadek (Blind Chance) (1987),
Lekcja Martwego Języka (Lesson of the Dead language) (1979),
Struktura Kryształu (The Structure of Crystal) (1969),
Ryś (The Lynx) (1982).

All Blu-rays have English subtitles and modest price tag.

Thanks for the heads up! Anyone we can buy them from the US?

Is this the same set that djvasco mentioned in his posting? http://www.punkt44.pl/657842,studio_fil ... at_pakiet_" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;[25dvd].html

My apologies to the administrator regarding my numerous re-postings. This link should be usable. This set is not in the blu-ray format but have the same films as listed in djvasco's orginal posting.

TheDoug wrote:Is this the same set that djvasco mentioned in his posting? http://www.punkt44.pl/657842,studio_fil ... at_pakiet_" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;[25dvd].html

My apologies to the administrator regarding my numerous re-postings. This link should be usable. This set is not in the blu-ray format but have the same films as listed in djvasco's orginal posting.

No worries, it's not showing in full because the URL contains brackets which messes with the BBCode on the forum. Here is a working clickable link to the above page