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The documentary shows the work of journalists and the importance of the press in building socialism. It is an exemplary implementation of the socialist-realist convention imposed on Polish cinema in 1949, in which all elements of the film structure were subordinated to the persuasive function.

In accordance with the convention of a propaganda documentary, the image in “Do redakcja nadszedł list” / “A letter has arrived to the editor” is exclusively an illustration of the propaganda commentary on which the construction of the entire film is based. As in many works of the 1950s, the authors combine in it few observational elements with staging, the documentary element with the fictional one. The picture, devoted to the glorification of the socialist press, is built around a plot in which a tractor driver, Wichłacz, reports a defect in an Ursus tractor to the correspondent of the “People’s Tribune”, Wilczyński. Thanks to an appeal prepared by the journalist, the information reaches the factory, where the factory committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR) meets and passes the matter on to rationalizers. The fault is fixed. The vague and schematic story is only a pretext to show the effectiveness of the socialist press and the interest of journalists in the matters of workers and peasants. It is for them that one edits, and it happens that they become editors. The socialist press “speaks about real life” and is owned by the masses. In the formula of digression the stages of working on an article are shown. One sequence is devoted to newspapers published in the Eastern Bloc countries and the communist press in capitalist countries. Another criticizes the Polish press before the war and the present-day bourgeois press published in the West. The final scene shows a boy learning journalism by preparing wall newspapers. “By learning, we fight for peace, progress, socialism.” – argues the narrator. The author of the subtle and poetic “Warsaw Suite” (1946) produced several flagship works of Socialist Realism in the early 1950s. In the same year as “Do redakcji nad nadszedł list”, he created “Nowa sztuka” (“New Art”) (1950), and two years later “Mazowsze” – a colorful concert on the screen (1952).

384MB | 20m 16s | 1280×720 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/9066DDB5CE9233C/Do.redakcji.nadszedl.list.(Tadeusz.Makarczynski.1950).WEB-DL.720p.mkv

Language(s):Polish
Subtitles:English,Polish

The post Tadeusz Makarczynski – Do redakcji nadszedl list AKA A Letter at the Editorial Office (1950) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
A film suite divided into three parts showing successively the defeat of Warsaw, the gradual awakening of the capital and the first post-war Warsaw spring. The film has no commentary, only music, whose mood and rhythm are closely related to the character of the presented images.

The title of the film and its structure refer to the musical form of the suite – a series of miniatures connected by a programmatic content. Three musical themes by Witold Lutosławski and three film impressions by Makarczyński – defeat, awakening, and springtime – compose a poetic picture of post-war Warsaw. The first movement (adagio) shows the ruins of an extinct city. There are no people in it. The stumps of walls, towers, and destroyed monuments stand in the sky, where clouds drift, rarely revealing the sharply shining sun. The aesthetics of the images is based on strong contrasts of light and shadow, the edges of the frames are lost in blur, most of the shots are static. The middle part of the film is shot at a slightly faster pace. The first people appear on the streets. A war veteran, a former camp prisoner in a striped uniform, walks through the streets. Smoke drifts from a hastily assembled chimney. Someone carries a fragment of a bed frame. Someone puts out a flower on the windowsill. The camera records the rhythm of reconstruction work. Stores are opening, a shoe shiner is offering his services again, a city musician wanders around the courtyards. The first trains laden with passengers’ grapes cross the bridges. In the finale entitled “Warsaw Spring” the artists focus on the observation of nature. Life returns to Warsaw’s Lazienki Park, dance and joy to the towns near Warsaw. The tempo of this part of the Suite is dictated by a lively and merry allegro. The final shot shows the dark silhouette of the Warsaw Mermaid against a bright sky. The city survives, but will forever be marked by death. “The Warsaw Suite”, as one of the first post-war documentaries, grew out of the author’s conviction that a document can be not only a simple registration or a propaganda message of considerable impact, but also art. Makarczyński’s documentary explorations, especially Warsaw Suite and Life is Beautiful (1957), laid the foundations for the development of the creative trend in Polish documentary filmmaking.

213MB | 18m 58s | 1024×576 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/F892E3BD4E38393/Suita.warszawska.1946.WEB-DL.576p.mkv

Language(s):Polish intertitles
Subtitles:English

The post Tadeusz Makarczynski – Suita warszawska AKA Warsaw Suite (1946) first appeared on Cinema of the World.