Search - Kanal on DVD

Content Advisory: Mild Violence, Not For Children Movie Release: 1957 DVD Release: 11/18/2003 Format: DVD - Black and White,Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: Polish Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 36 mins Studio: Polart Members Wishing: 7 Genres: War, War Drama, Resistance Film See Also: Kanal

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, All Movie Guide

Wienczyslaw Glinski - Lieutenant 'Splinter'
Teresa Izewska - 'Daisy'
Tadeusz Janczar - Corporal Korab
Emil Karewicz - 'Wise'
Wladyslaw Sheybal - Composer

The second film in Andrzej Wajda's WWII trilogy, the 1957 drama Kanal comes to DVD from Facets Video. Presented in the original black-and-white with a Polish soundtrack, optional subtitles are in English. Special features include behind-the-scenes images, original posters, and biographies. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide