Kanal (1954) Directed by Andrzej Wajda | VIDEO (ISO)

Synopsis :
The second of Polish director Andrzej Wajda's WWII trilogy, following Pokolenie (A Generation) and preceding Popiol I diament (Ashes and Diamonds), Kanal is the most physically harrowing of the set. Based on the experiences of Jerzy Stefan Stawinski, a Polish patriot who participated in the battle for Warsaw in 1939 as an 18-year-old and in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, the action takes place in the last week of the 63-day Uprising, as the Nazis hunt down what few freedom fighters remain. A band of Poles takes to the sewers in hopes of escaping, but they become disoriented by the darkness and the fumes of the waist-deep filth. Whenever the Poles try to emerge for orientation or relief, the Germans are there to greet them with a hail of bullets. Kanal was Wajda's coming-out film; it won two prizes at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival and clicked with both European and American audiences, in spite of its grueling story and pessimistic tone. Tom Wiener
Title : Kanal (1957)  
Directed by Andrzej Wajda
Duration : 96 min.
Subtitles : English, Portuguese
Audio in Polish
Extras : Jan Nowak-Jezioranski : Messenger of Varsóvia & more ...
Genres : Drama, War, Action, Adventure
Countries : Poland
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A Generation (Pokolenie) (1954) Directed by Andrzej Wajda | VIDEO (ISO)

Synopsis :
A Generation is the first of Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda's "underground trilogy"-and also Wajda's first-ever feature film. Originally titled Pokolenie, the film dissects the impact that World War II had on the youth of Poland. Tadevsz Lomnicki plays an impressionable young Warsaw resident who falls in love with resistance leader Ursula Modrzinska. The passion they feel towards their cause is inextricably entwined with the intensity of their feelings towards one another. During several crucial moments, the director contrasts the "official" version of wartime events with the actual facts (many experienced first-hand by Wajda), partly as a means of explaining the peacetime disillusionment of so many young Poles. As a result, the film was subject to an overabundance of government interference when it was first released. Watch closely in the Underground scenes of A Generation and you'll spot a young Roman Polanski. Hal Erickson
Title :  A Generation (1954)  
Original title : Pokolenie
Directed by Andrzej Wajda
Duration : 84 min.
Subtitles : English, Portuguese
Audio in Polish
Bonus :
Genres :  Drama, War

Port of Shadow (Le Quai des Brumes) (1938) Directed by Marcel Carné | VIDEO (ISO)

Synopsis :
Adapted from a novel by Jacques Prevert, Port of Shadows (Quai des brumes) stars that eternal victim of society, Jean Gabin. Having deserted the French army, Gabin ducks into a back alley and meets the lovely Michelle Morgan. He becomes her champion by taking on her evil "protectors" (Michel Simon, Pierre Brasseur), but loses his last bid for freedom--and his life--in the process. Irredeemably gloomy, Port of Shadows was a primary influence in the "film noir" genre pursued by Hollywood in the 1940s. The film was the first of three collaborations between writer Jacques Prevert and director Marcel Carne, culminating in the incomparable Les Enfants du Paradis (1944). Hal Erickson
Title : Port of Shadow (1938)
Original title : Le Quai des Brumes
Directed by Marcel Carné
Duration : 91 min.
Subtitles : Englis, Portuguese, Spanish
Audio in French
Bonus : Biography od Jean Gabin, Marcel Carné, Michèle Morgan & more ...
Genres :  Drama, Romance, Crime

Mon Oncle (1958) Directed by Jacques Tati | VIDEO (ISO)

Synopsis :
Five years after his first appearance, Jacques Tati's M. Hulot returns with Mon Oncle, a film set along the dividing line between Paris' past and its future. Aligned (as is the film) with the former, Hulot lives in a colorful, overpopulated Parisian neighborhood and, lacking employment, spends his days waiting to pick up his adoring nephew from school, and subsequently escorting him to his parents' ultra-modern house. Filled with gadgets, some turned on only to impress the neighbors, the house seems designed specifically to frustrate Hulot, who unwittingly disrupts its operations at every opportunity. Concerned about his future, Hulot's relatives attempt to find him gainful employment and pair him off with a neighbor, with little success on either front. The nearly dialogue-free film is less concerned with the family's attempts as they relate to an overall plot, and more interested in how they play into its overall scheme of contrasts and allow for Tati's unmistakable sight-and-sound gag set pieces. Keith Phipps
Title : Mon Oncle (1958)
Directed by Jacques Tati
Duration : 120 min.
Subtitles : English, Portuguese, Spanish
Audio in French
Genres : Comedy
Countries : France, Italy

Baby Doll (1956) Directed by Elia Kazan | VIDEO (ISO)

Synopsis :
Tennessee Williams' 27 Wagons Full of Cotton was the basis for this steamy sex seriocomedy. Karl Malden stars as the doltish owner of a Southern cotton gin. He is married to luscious teenager Carroll Baker, who steadfastly refuses to sleep with her husband until she reaches the age of 20. Her nickname is "Baby Doll", a cognomen she does her best to live up to by lying in a crib-like bed and sucking her thumb. Enter crafty Sicilian Eli Wallach (who, like supporting actor Rip Torn, makes his film debut herein), who covets both Malden's wife and business. Malden's jealously sets fire to Wallach's business, compelling Wallach to try to claim Baby Doll as "compensation." Heavily admonished for its supposed filthiness in 1956 (it was condemned by the Legion of Decency, which did more harm to the Legion than to the film), Baby Doll seems a model of decorum today--so much so that it is regularly shown on the straight-laced American Movie Classics cable service. Hal Erickson
Title : Baby Doll (1956)
Directed by Elia Kazan
Duration : 114 min.
Subtitles : Portuguese
Audio in English
Genres : Crime
Countries : USA