Kanal ***** (1957, Teresa Izewska, Tadeusz Janczar, Wienczyslaw Glinski, Emil Kariewicz) – Classic Movie Review 4471

In Andrzej Wajda’s forceful 1957 Polish film Kanal, which is based on an actual incident, resistance fighter patriots use Warsaw’s sewer system (‘kanal’) to try to escape German soldiers in 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis. Wienczyslaw Glinski stars as Polish Lieutenant Zadra, who finds himself trapped in a sewer with his group of resistance fighters.

Part two of Wajda’s great war trilogy, which began with A Generation (1955), Kanal is a grim and graphic account of the final days of the Warsaw uprising in Nazi-occupied Poland.

Powerful acting by Teresa Izewska, Tadeusz Janczar and Emil Kariewicz, riveting direction by Wajda and an important theme developed in Jerzy Stefan Stawiński’s strong story and screenplay all helped it to be co-winner of the Jury Special Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1957 (shared with The Seventh Seal).

Also in the cast are Vladek Sheybal, Stanislaw Mikulski, Teresa Berezowska, Tadeusz Gwiazdowski and Jan Englert.

Kanal runs 95 minutes, is made by KADR, is shot by Jerzy Lipman, produced by Stanislaw Adler, and scored by Jan Krenz.

Wajda finished his trilogy with Ashes and Diamonds in 1959.

Jerzy Stefan Stawiński survived in the sewers as an officer of Armia Krajowa, the Polish underground resistance Home Army, during the Warsaw Uprising of August 1944.

The film is produced by Zespół Filmowy ‘KADR’ at Wytwornia Filmow Fabularnych (Feature Film Studio) in Łódź, Poland.

Kanal premiered in Warsaw on 20 April 1957.

[Spoiler alert] Kanal sparked widespread controversy in Poland over its portrayal of desperate acts of courage and the futile death of the uprising’s heroes.

The cast are Teresa Iżewska as “Stokrotka” (Daisy), Tadeusz Janczar as Jacek “Korab”, Wieńczysław Gliński as Lt. “Zadra”, Tadeusz Gwiazdowski as Sgt. “Kula”, Stanisław Mikulski as “Smukły”, Emil Karewicz as Lt. “Mądry”, Maciej Maciejewski as “Gustaw”, Vladek Sheybal (credited as Władysław Sheybal) as the composer Michał, and Teresa Berezowska as Halinka.

RIP Andrzej Wajda (6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016), winner of an honorary Oscar and the Cannes Palme d’Or and the most prominent member of the Polish Film School. Four of his films were nominated for Best Foreign Language Film Oscars: The Promised Land (1975), The Maids of Wilko (1979), Man of Iron (1981), and Katyń (2007).

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4471

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