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rollotomassi wrote:It's an excellent film, comparable to Somewhere in Europe and Radok's The Long Journey

...both of which are out on DVD, so it's annoying that their Polish counterpart isn't.

rollotomassi wrote:It's an excellent film, comparable to Somewhere in Europe and Radok's The Long Journey, and possibly the best and most harrowing of the three. Certainly influential on Munk's Passenger.

Thanks for the comments -- I ordered a copy since it's cheap and I'm interested in seeing it. Sounds like something Second Run might look into releasing on DVD some day.

A quick follow-up –

Finally watched this - whoa! For such well-trod terrain, I was surprised how much impact this film has. The location shooting at Auschwitz casts an overpowering sense of verisimilitude -- almost feels a little crazy (or courageous) that it even got made there, so soon after the war. Being told from a feminine perspective made seeing the familiar story much more fresh than I was expecting. And it definitely does not pull any punches in showing brutality, torture and murder - pretty shocking stuff for 1948! The ending does have a bit of deus ex machina – but that didn’t bother me, considering the unrelenting darkness that precedes it.

Is there any film made earlier than this one that portrays life in the Nazi concentration camps? It sure felt like this the is one that influenced all the others that came after -- whether it be Night and Fog, Kapò, Passenger, Schindler's List, The Grey Zone or The Pianist.

This Polart VHS is pretty crappy -- the image wasn't completely unwatchable, but the sloppy, misspelled, often out-of-synch subtitles were quite chore to keep up with. Seeing a restored version of this (I hope this is still possible!) would be a revelation. I hope Second Run or Masters of Cinema or Criterion (or somebody) discovers this film and takes up the torch -- it's certainly worthy of their attention.

Galen Young wrote:Is there any film made earlier than this one that portrays life in the Nazi concentration camps?

Well, there are a number of war-era Hollywood films that provide "glimpses" into concentration camps: Borzage's The Mortal Storm (which may be the very first), Lang's Hangmen Also Die, and Zinneman's The Seventh Cross being the most prominent. But I doubt these really count in the sense that you mean. The films all center on political prisoners and thus tend to elide what the concentration camps were really for (and how they functioned). And of course, they were propagandistic and made by refugees who probably knew of the camps but didn't see them first-hand.

Mr Bongo have announced Wojciech Has's The Hourglass Sanatorium (Sanatorium Pod Klepsydrà) for UK DVD release in November.

I love The Saragossa Manuscript, but it's the only Has film I've seen, so I will be very interested in this.

GaryC wrote:I love The Saragossa Manuscript, but it's the only Has film I've seen, so I will be very interested in this.

The Quay Brothers' current project is based on this - or rather, the Bruno Schulz source novel. (They previously filmed Schulz's Street of Crocodiles).

MichaelB wrote:

GaryC wrote:I love The Saragossa Manuscript, but it's the only Has film I've seen, so I will be very interested in this.

The Quay Brothers' current project is based on this - or rather, the Bruno Schulz source novel. (They previously filmed Schulz's Street of Crocodiles).

While we're at it, I strongly recommend reading Schulz's work. It is pretty unique and great.

Skritek wrote:

MichaelB wrote:

GaryC wrote:I love The Saragossa Manuscript, but it's the only Has film I've seen, so I will be very interested in this.

The Quay Brothers' current project is based on this - or rather, the Bruno Schulz source novel. (They previously filmed Schulz's Street of Crocodiles).

While we're at it, I strongly recommend reading Schulz's work. It is pretty unique and great.

Would that not be Sanatorium of the Hourglass? Or, did Schulz also write The Saragossa Manuscript?

I second reading Schulz's work. There is not much as I recall, but Street of Crocodiles is definitely a wonderful book.

EDIT: Did not read the thread from beginning. Sorry. It was Sanatorium that was under discussion. Please delete this post!

I recently purchased from Merlin.pl the film "Do widzenia, do jutra..." by Janusz Morgenstern, as it was very cheap

Quite good, though not something special. Very good photography, which makes you willing to wonder the streets of Gdansk. Also, a young Polanski at a small role.

I've just been informed by a friend - and this is backed up by their website (though you have to dig into a Polish-language PDF download to find the info!) - that Best Film Co's 50 lat Polskiej Szkoły Filmowej (50 Years of the Polish Film School) series of box sets is English-subtitled throughout.

This is what's in the four boxes to date:

Box I

• Kanal (d. Andrzej Wajda, 1957)
  Lotna (d. Andrzej Wajda, 1959)
  See You Tomorrow (Do widzenia, do jutra, d. Janusz Morgenstern, 1960)
  The Last Day of Summer (Ostatni dzień lata, d. Tadeusz Konwicki, 1958)
  Ashes and Diamonds (Popiól i diament, d. Andrzej Wajda, 1958)

Box II

• Bad Luck (Zezowate szczęście, d. Andrzej Munk, 1959)
  Eroica (d. Andrzej Munk, 1958)
  Night Train (Pociąg, d. Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 1959)
  Cross of Valour (Krzyż walecznych, d. Kazimierz Kutz, 1958)
  No-One Cries Out (Nikt nie woła, d. Kazimierz Kutz, 1960)

Box III

• Birth Certificate (Świadectwo urodzenia, d. Stanisław Różewicz)
  Winter Twilight (Zimowy zmierzch, d. Stanisław Lenartowicz, 1956)
  Eva Wants To Sleep (Ewa chce spać, d. Tadeusz Chmielewski, 1957)
  Pills for Aurelia (Pigułki dla Aurelii, d. Stanisław Lenartowicz, 1958)
  Answer to Violence (Zamach, d. Jerzy Passendorfer, 1958)

Box IV

• Mother Joan of the Angels (Matka Joanna od aniołów, d. Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 1960)
  The Last Battle (Kwiecień, d. Witold Lesiewicz, 1961)
  How To Be Loved (Jak byc kochaną, d. Wojciech J. Has, 1962)
  The Noose (Pętla, d. Wojciech J. Has, 1957)
  Depot of the Dead (Baza ludzi umarłych (d. Czesław Petelski, 1959)

Prices seem to be around 126-132 złotys per set, which equates to approx. £31-32, €39-41 and $61-64, not including postage.

Wow - that's pretty amazing. Good prices too -- I paid almost the cost of one box set just for the two Wojciech Has DVDs.

MichaelB, do you happen to know if all those titles are new to DVD (or new on this label) or if some are repackagings of single releases? And, any guesses on how the image quality might be ... closer to the Facets releases of some of these titles, or to the Polish DVD I have of The Noose, which looks pretty good?

Perkins Cobb wrote:MichaelB, do you happen to know if all those titles are new to DVD (or new on this label) or if some are repackagings of single releases? And, any guesses on how the image quality might be ... closer to the Facets releases of some of these titles, or to the Polish DVD I have of The Noose, which looks pretty good?

No idea, I'm afraid - I've posted literally everything I know!

My guess, though, is that the three Wajdas are repackagings of the three Polish DVDs I already have, since they were also released by Best Film Co. In which case they're pretty good - decent transfers that have clearly had some digital clean-up, and anamorphically enhanced where necessary. The only frustration is that there are loads of extras, including long interviews - none of which are subtitled!

So on the basis of what I've seen, I'd say Second Run standard rather than Facets. And I can't speak for The Noose - logically, it should be the same transfer (why do another?), but as the single disc is on a different label, it may not be.

Thanks, Michael, that's helpful. If you or anybody else gets these in, I hope you'll post more details. May have to bite on at least one of these, as soon as I get done cleaning Xploited out of everything I need from them.

(And to clarify, in my last post, by the two Has DVDs I meant The Noose and One-Room Tenants from the other label, not the two DVDs in this box set.)

Meanwhile, New Yorkers may be interested to know that there's an Andrzej Wajda program scheduled for October 17-November 13 at the Walter Reade. No titles announced yet, but it's bound to be close to a full retro if it's a month long.

Just trudged through the purchase path on the Empyk.com website linked in Michael's post above. Cost with shipping to the US for one of the box sets comes out to about $89. Think I'm going to wait until somebody else chimes in with some image quality notes before I pull the trigger.

GaryC wrote:Mr Bongo have announced Wojciech Has's The Hourglass Sanatorium (Sanatorium Pod Klepsydrà) for UK DVD release in November.

I love The Saragossa Manuscript, but it's the only Has film I've seen, so I will be very interested in this.

Great that this looks like it will be released here finally, it was IMO, a major influence on the Quays' "Street of Crocodiles". I hope that there will be extras, i.e. introduction, documentary essay whatever, other than production stills; though I doubt it...still, a great and neglected release. To be applauded.

davidhare wrote:Where on earth are the early Skolimowski's Bariera, Walkover and Rysopis?

Ah, excellent question!

batiar wrote:Andrzej Zulawski (only films made outside Poland are released on DVD)

Trzecia czesc nocy (The Third Part of the Night) is available on a Second Run DVD.

Zobalob wrote:

GaryC wrote:Mr Bongo have announced Wojciech Has's The Hourglass Sanatorium (Sanatorium Pod Klepsydrà) for UK DVD release in November.

I love The Saragossa Manuscript, but it's the only Has film I've seen, so I will be very interested in this.

Great that this looks like it will be released here finally, it was IMO, a major influence on the Quays' "Street of Crocodiles". I hope that there will be extras, i.e. introduction, documentary essay whatever, other than production stills; though I doubt it...still, a great and neglected release. To be applauded.

From what I hear a restoration of The Hourglass Sanatorium has been completed not too long ago under the guidance of Witold Sobocinski. Hopefully the DVD will use the restored elements. The film in its original state had phenomenal colours and a very detailed CinemaScope look, with great set design. The film itself is not quite as good as the book, it takes Schulz's prose a bit too literally for my taste so certain central ideas — e.g. that of archetypes of childhood memory — become mere illustrations. It is still a very interesting film.

--
Jan

JanPB wrote:

davidhare wrote:Where on earth are the early Skolimowski's Bariera, Walkover and Rysopis?

Ah, excellent question!

...and one which may be answered before too long.

JanPB wrote:From what I hear a restoration of The Hourglass Sanatorium has been completed not too long ago under the guidance of Witold Sobocinski. Hopefully the DVD will use the restored elements. The film in its original state had phenomenal colours and a very detailed CinemaScope look, with great set design. The film itself is not quite as good as the book, it takes Schulz's prose a bit too literally for my taste so certain central ideas — e.g. that of archetypes of childhood memory — become mere illustrations. It is still a very interesting film.

I agree with all of your points, it's not a patch on the book, but it does look absolutely stunning, very atmospheric and dreamlike. It also has elephants! What more could we ask?

I do hope that it's the resto. that they use. Personally, I love it and would like to see it get the full treatment on DVD, i.e. going to the locations where it was shot etc., similar to the Belgian 2 disc release of "Malpertuis", which is an example of how this sort of thing can be done. I think this is a pipe dream though, as Mr. Bongo don't seem to be big on extras, they probably don't have the resources unfortunately...but all power to them for their raison d'etre.

JanPB wrote:From what I hear a restoration of The Hourglass Sanatorium has been completed not too long ago under the guidance of Witold Sobocinski.

La clepsydre

Das Sanatorium zur Todesanzeige

Merlin has a set of 4 early movies by Agnieszka Holland.
Titles included:
Screen Tests
Provincial Actors
A Lonely Woman
Fever
This is a 4 DVD set and according to specs movies come with english subtitles.
If anybody gets this set can you let us know about quality of transfers.

Thanks for the tip-off - I'm waiting for the next PWA documentary set before I place another order with Merlin (I tend to order in bulk to reduce postage to a minimum), but it's definitely on my shopping list.

UPDATE: Duly ordered, and I'll report back when it arrives.

I've recently ordered the new Skolimowski and Agn. Holland sets off Merlin. Will reply with the quality when it arrives. By the look of the sets, they look similar to the fantastic Polish set of Dekalog.

I've also ordered Wojciech Has' film "The Noose" which is available with Eng. Subtitles for about 42zl. His other film "One Room Tenants" is also available for the same price with English subtitles, but I didn't order that one. Has anyone seen it?

I wish I knew about the 50-Year-Polish School pack before I ordered. I would've order Pack #2. Those films I've been dying to see, and the only Eng. subtitled versions were the Facets/Polart releases, and I'm never buying from them ever since Sexmission had a butchered release.

Also, for those who live in Melbourne, Australia. Saragossa Manuscript is going to screen at the ACMI for three nights. This is the Australian premiere.
I can't wait for Mr Bongo to release Hourglass Sanatorium, which has only been released in France without subtitles. The only way to see it, was download it with subtitles.

dmk_world, I wish you'd bought the Film World box too, as I'd like to see someone report on the image quality (i.e., better than typical Polart?) before I take the plunge myself. And have the 3rd or 4th boxes become available yet?

One-Room Tenants is a lot like The Noose, both the film and the DVD presentation. They're both impressive films, with a dense, feverish sort of visual style. Very claustrophobic and grim. Usually I'd mean that as a compliment, but I actually found them a bit oppressive (especially back to back). Quite different from The Saragossa Manuscript, obviously.

Perkins Cobb wrote:dmk_world, I wish you'd bought the Film World box too, as I'd like to see someone report on the image quality (i.e., better than typical Polart?) before I take the plunge myself. And have the 3rd or 4th boxes become available yet?

I ordered the second box in my latest Merlin order (I already had everything in the first). I don't think the other two boxes are out yet.