184-185 The Hourglass Sanatorium & The Saragossa Manuscript

[MichaelB]

The Noose is the one whose absence from international distribution (aside from France, Has’s long-term national champions) is truly baffling.

It was refused an export licence at the time, because the authorities didn’t think that a film about an unrepentant alcoholic was an ideal cultural ambassador at a time (1958) when people were only just beginning to discover Polish culture in volume, but that’s obviously not relevant now.

Anyway, for my money it’s the single strongest Polish feature debut between the end of WWII and Polanski’s Knife in the Water, because Has was lucky with his timing; while peers like Andrzej Munk, Jerzy Kawalerowicz and Andrzej Wajda had to conform to the tenets of Socialist Realism with their debut features (although Munk’s Man on the Tracks and Wajda’s A Generation are good examples of how clever directors could get around some, but not all, the restrictions), Has had much more freedom.

I was at last year’s BFI Southbank screening of The Noose, and people were absolutely stunned by it; I eavesdropped on assorted conversations as they were leaving, which were variations on a general theme of “why the hell hasn’t that been part of the world cinema canon for decades”?

[49CHOMPS]

The making-if documentary is especially exciting.

YouTube is terrible for searching for any interview of Has. Between all of the Yellow Veil releases, I was beginning to believe there was no footage of the man.

[Orlac]

In my school library, we had a copy of the 1976 book Science Fiction Movies by Philip Strick, and the picture of the scantily clad maidens from this movie (plus Valerie Perrine from Slaughterhouse Five) meant the book was very popular with the lads!

[Maltic]

It's a much better film book than any of the ones in my school library.

There was, though, a reprint of Delacroix's topless Marianne leading the people in one of the encyclopedias.

[videozor]

Newly improved English subtitle translation

This will be welcomed. I did not watch the recent VS edition, but subtitles on Mr. Bongo discs were much inferior to the ones on very old Image DVD.

[MichaelB]

Mr Bongo’s disc was a clone—as in the machine-readable side being literally identical—of the first Polish BD release, so the subtitles will have originated there.

I haven’t seen the Radiance subtitles, but I can confirm that the ones for The Hourglass Sanatorium were different from previous BD releases.

[MichaelB]

Blueprint Review on The Hourglass Sanatorium:

The new 4K restoration from the original camera negative is absolutely astonishing. The film has an almost 3D quality throughout, thanks to the depths of the sets, there are no blemishes, detail is rich throughout and there is a very natural colour scheme. It’s a feast for the senses, supported by excellent audio.

I haven't seen the full 4K UHD version myself yet—the best I've managed is a low-bitrate 1080p MP4 reduction—so I'm counting the days until my copy hits my doormat. But there's every reason for it to look spectacular thanks to the distinctive way that it was shot, with the 35mm negative area being somewhat larger than the norm thanks to Witold Sobociński's proto-Super 35 invention.

[MichaelB]

A typically exhaustive Hourglass Sanatorium review from CineOutsider.

A film that is likely to frustrate as many as it captivates, and one that most will likely find themselves more than a little bemused by even if they were as mesmerised by its time-hopping and broken mirror storytelling, hauntingly realised visuals and engaging performances as I was. The Hourglass Sanatorium is, at least for this humble viewer, challenging, ambitious, adventurous and imaginative storytelling at its most cinematically bewitching, and a hell of an introduction to the cinema of Wojciech Has, if also, I gather, a somewhat atypical one. This UHD/Blu-ray package from Radiance may not be overloaded with special features, but Michael Brooke’s busy commentary is excellent, the inclusion of Has’s debut short film Accordion is more than welcome, and the Jerzy Skarżyński interview proves to be seductive primer for the upcoming Radiance dual format release of The Saragossa Manuscript. What really sells this release is the film itself, which is presented in a top class restoration that looks really good on Blu-ray but even better on UHD. Obviously not for everyone, but for the willing, this release comes highly recommended.

(I still haven't seen the UHD version yet! Although a mystery package is apparently due to arrive tomorrow, and that may well be it.)

[Finch]

I'll second the almost three dimensional quality of the transfer. There is a late film shot of the father under the light above the bed that if it wasn't for the fact I was watching on a 48 inch TV, could have fooled me into thinking I stood right in the room with them. The most impressive 4K since I Know Where I'm Going!

Sanatorium isn't horror per se, but scenes from it will haunt me for the rest of my days. Anyone else adding this to their annual Halloween watchlist?