BD 61-64 The War Trilogy: Three Films by Andrzej Wajda

[MichaelB]

Although I must stress that I have no privileged information here, HD masters are available for the first two, and of course they're existing Second Run DVD releases.

[ryannichols7]

I'm sorry guys, didn't mean to start anything. I guess I'm still disappointed in the boxset breakout stuff when the rights to those films are being held...so they can exist on a streaming service. I'm just grateful somewhere in the world they can get a great, accessible release with tons of care.

Skolimowski I would assume would be a big priority since he's living and has a new film out. ditto Krzysztof Zanussi, who Second Run have released titles from before. does anyone happen to know if Poland keeps a list of their restored films like Hungary and the Czech Republic do? all the Munk, Kawalerowicz, and of course 70s Zulawski I'm sure would be priorities

[swo17]

Janus has the rights to the films, so I don't think this is a case of Criterion couldn't license the films for Blu-ray, but rather a case of them not being high priority upgrades and/or waiting for restorations.

The Criterion DVD set appears to be OOP?

[MichaelB]

There's an astonishing number of Polish HD restorations now available - way, way ahead of the equivalent situations in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.

But I'm afraid it looks as though Żuławski isn't going to be on the cards any time soon. Enquiries have of course been made, as Second Run has been trying to release his Polish films for many years now. (I think I saw the three restorations way back in 2016!)

[therewillbeblus]

I'm really glad that I held off on the Criterion

It doesn't always pay off to wait, but this time it did! I am surprised Criterion didn't release the trilogy as a box set though. I imagine it would've sold just as well, if not better than the solo Ashes and Diamonds. People seem more inclined to blind-purchase Criterion box sets than their single releases, for the allure of the price-per-film difference and the allure of a big set (hence why a World Cinema Project set sells better than solo releases of those films few have heard of, though I don't know what the figures actually look like). What makes the recent Haneke or Zetterling sets any more appealing as box sets than this trilogy? The films aren't generally more well-known, are they?

[yoloswegmaster]

There's an astonishing number of Polish HD restorations now available - way, way ahead of the equivalent situations in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.

But I'm afraid it looks as though Żuławski isn't going to be on the cards any time soon. Enquiries have of course been made, as Second Run has been trying to release his Polish films for many years now. (I think I saw the three restorations way back in 2016!)

Are you allowed to say if we're going to be getting more releases for Polish titles in the upcoming future, or if we can see more labels getting in on the action?

[ryannichols7]

I'm really glad that I held off on the Criterion

It doesn't always pay off to wait, but this time it did! I am surprised Criterion didn't release the trilogy as a box set though. I imagine it would've sold just as well, if not better than the solo Ashes and Diamonds. People seem more inclined to blind-purchase Criterion box sets than their single releases, for the allure of the price-per-film difference and the allure of a big set (hence why a World Cinema Project set sells better than solo releases of those films few have heard of, though I don't know what the figures actually look like). What makes the recent Haneke or Zetterling sets any more appealing as box sets than this trilogy? The films aren't generally more well-known, are they?

I think maybe they changed their tune on it now. Wajda was the third (I think) case of them breaking out the most popular film from a boxset and letting the remainder of the box go out of print - Malle (Au Revoir Les Enfants) and Teshigahara (Woman in the Dunes) preceeded it. in all three cases, they retained the rights to the "orphan" films, as all of them are on the channel. this was the source of my shots in my previous posts, as well as Life and Nothing More getting the only scholarly love in the Koker Trilogy set. only The Orphic Trilogy was a rights scenario - Orpheus being a different rightsholder than the other two films, hence why it got a release

it's also interesting too as I feel just a few years ago, this would've been a candidate for an Arrow release, since they initially did Ashes and Diamonds in the UK. but I think there's a sort of understanding this is a Second Run dream project basically - they have been releasing Wajda's other films over the years on DVD, it only makes sense they got to present such a definitive edition of his most known films. they could easily coast off BDs of more of his best known films (The Ashes, The Promised Land, Man of Marble/Iron, Innocent Sorcerers), but I trust the love will be spread amongst other directors too.

[dwk]

The Criterion DVD set appears to be OOP?

Just another case of them letting DVD boxsets go OOP (are any of their DVD only boxsets still in print?) they still have all three films.

[fiendishthingy]

It looks like Criterion’s 4 by Agnès Varda DVD set is still in print, though of course all of the films were released on Blu-ray in the bigger Varda set. I also noticed that their Wajda war films set is “currently unavailable” instead of “out of print,” not that that necessarily means anything.

[ryannichols7]

a silly question, but will the spines be:

58 A Generation
59 Kanal
60 Ashes and Diamonds
61 The War Trilogy

I know, these are the things I get excited over. being a completionist for this label has its fun

[Calvin]

Exciting news, though I'll be curious to see the transfers as both Kanal and Ashes and Diamonds have had recent 4K restorations (the latter fuelling the Criterion release) so are these 2K restorations newer still?

Kanal is my favourite though so I'll be more than happy to replace my Polish 1080i disc. Hopefully there's more Wajda to come - I've been hoping for a while that the Poles would continue their Blu-Ray releases with The Birch Wood, Lotna, or The Ring with a Crowned Eagle, but they seem to have slowed to a stop.

I gather Jerzy Skolimowski and his wife Ewa Piaskowska would be only too happy to collaborate on proper English subtitles for Bariera if anyone picked it up - apparently the existing DVD doesn't do his verbally dazzling screenplay anywhere close to justice. (Some of the wordplay will be untranslatable, of course, but an officially sanctioned alternative would at least be an improvement.)

But I'm not aware of any plans, or indeed if anyone's restored it.

Bariera has been restored. In fact, you can watch the restoration at 35mm.online.

Skolimowski I would assume would be a big priority since he's living and has a new film out. ditto Krzysztof Zanussi, who Second Run have released titles from before. does anyone happen to know if Poland keeps a list of their restored films like Hungary and the Czech Republic do?

http://rekonstrukcje.eu/

[Bikey]

a silly question, but will the spines be:

58 A Generation
59 Kanal
60 Ashes and Diamonds
61 The War Trilogy

I know, these are the things I get excited over. being a completionist for this label has its fun

Thanks for the excitement!
The spines will be:
61 The War Trilogy
62 A Generation
63 Kanal
64 Ashes and Diamonds

[Bikey]

A wonderful 2-page review by Hannah McGill in the latest Sight and Sound magazine

[denti alligator]

Nice, can‘t wait to get this set. Especially thrilled to hear Michael‘s commentaries.

[MichaelB]

I've been hoping for a while that the Poles would continue their Blu-Ray releases with The Birch Wood, Lotna, or The Ring with a Crowned Eagle, but they seem to have slowed to a stop.

The last two of those weren't included in the big Wajda retrospective box set with which he was closely involved. And Wajda's 1990s output - the four features between Korczak and Pan Tadeusz - have always been incredibly hard to see, and in three out of four cases I've only managed it via sources that were less than entirely licit (and even with The Crowned-Eagle Ring I had to wait the better part of a decade for someone to produce English subtitles to fit the unsubtitled Polish DVD). It's almost as though he wanted them quietly buried - and of course Lotna (1959) is famously the film he said he'd gladly have remade if he'd ever been given the chance, as he similarly regarded it as an artistic failure, and one that especially stung given that it was primarily intended as a heartfelt tribute to his father, something he wouldn't ultimately pull off until Katyń in 2007.

The omission of The Birch Wood is more surprising, because that was also restored (the DVD in the box set looks pretty terrific), and Wajda was much more favourably disposed towards it, so here's hoping. Although given how much he revered Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz as a source writer, it's surprising that only one of his Iwaszkiewicz adaptations, The Young Ladies of Wilko is available on Blu-ray - the third one, Sweet Rush, has only come out on DVD, and I think exclusively in Poland (although thankfully with English subtitles).

[Calvin]

The reason I mentioned those three are that they are on this list of Polish restorations (I now see that Pan Tadeusz is as well) so I assumed that they would be the next Wajda releases if they were to continue.

I wouldn't complain if Second Run re-did any of those that have already been released in Poland either - they're better than I was expecting from 1080i transfers with lossy audio but, well, they're still 1080i transfers with lossy audio.

[MichaelB]

Lotna could potentially be a very interesting project to work on, as it needs proper contextualising more than most Wajda features (which generally speak more than eloquently enough for themselves), but whether it’s commercially viable outside Poland is another question entirely, and inside Poland it would most likely get the usual barebones treatment.

But its extreme rarity (is it even available on DVD anywhere? My Polish DVD has been OOP for years), coupled with the fact that it’s his other 1950s WWII film besides the famous trio might be an incentive.

[Bikey]

Full details now at our website

[Bikey]

Amazon UK price drop - now down to £36.57

[MichaelB]

Beaver.

[MichaelB]

The Geek Show.

[Bikey]

"Second Run’s fantastic release... this box set is the perfect introduction to one of greatest and most important filmmakers to hail from Poland."

Slant Magazine choose THE WAR TRILOGY: THREE FILMS BY ANDRZEJ WAJDA as one of the '20 Best Home Video Releases of 2022'

[Bikey]

#8 in Beaver's 'Top Ten Box Sets of 2022'

[j99]

I’m interested, because Ashes And Diamonds is fantastic. How do the other two films compare with it? In any case,I’ll probably pick up the set. It’s too tempting.

[therewillbeblus]

I’m interested, because Ashes And Diamonds is fantastic. How do the other two films compare with it? In any case,I’ll probably pick up the set. It’s too tempting.

These are my thoughts from the other thread, but in short, I think Kanal is the trilogy’s highlight