Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir 2012

An interview with film director Roman Polanski conducted during his period of house arrest, discussing his life and work.

Rosa Luxemburg 1986

Polish socialist and Marxist Rosa Luxemburg works tirelessly in the service of revolution in early 20th century Poland and Germany. While Luxemburg campaigns for her beliefs, she is repeatedly imprisoned as she forms the Spartacist League offering a new vision for Germany.

Effi Briest 1974

When 17-year-old Effi Briest marries the elderly Baron von Instetten, she moves to a small, isolated Baltic town and a house that she fears is haunted. Starved for companionship, Effi begins a friendship with Major Crampas, a charismatic womanizer.

Hauser's Memory 1970

A scientist is persuaded by the government to inject himself with the brain fluid of a dying colleague in order to preserve missile-defense secrets. However, he finds that he is now torn between his own wife and that of his dead colleague, who was a Nazi sympathizer.

Der Pfarrer von St. Pauli 1970

A former U-boat commander becomes a pastor to ease the suffering of young Hamburg women in trouble.

Jowita 1967

Marek is a promising athlete having his share of affairs with women. One day at masquerade ball he meets a an enigmatic Jowita and becomes obsessed with her, even when he finds seemingly true love in Agnieszka.

Serenade for Two Spies 1965

An international gang of gun dealers in the USA has stolen the prototype of a laser rifle from a German laboratory. The FBI agent Cormoran is being sent to recover the state-of-the-art and highly effective weapon. But there are some indications that he has defected to the enemy. Since agent 007 is currently on another mission, the chief of intelligence has to fall back on his second best man, the previous number 006. And so the German secret agent John Krim is given the assignment to get the rifle back, find evidence of Cormoran’s treachery and finally eliminate the colleague. Krim’s journey takes him across the ocean, and there he experiences incredible adventures in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Two women get in his way, and Krim can’t be sure whether he can trust them or whether they too are working for the other side.

Rififi in Tokyo 1963

Van Hekken, an old gangster, arrives in Tokyo to direct a bank hold-up in order to get a very valuable diamond.

Vice and Virtue 1963

1944 : Occupied France. Juliette (Vice) is Wehrmacht General Bamberg's mistress and enjoys a privileged life. Her younger sister Justine (Virtue) is about to marry Jean who is in the Resistance and come to Juliette for help. Both sisters end up at "la Commanderie", where Juliette becomes SS Colonel Schonberg's mistress and Justine is detained with other pretty girls who must satisfy the sexual needs of high-ranking nazi officials. Inspired by "Justine ou les infortunes de la vertu" by the marquis de Sade

Spóźnieni przechodnie 1962

Five short stories.

Love at Twenty 1962

Love at Twenty unites five directors from five different countries to present their different perspectives on what love really is at the age of 20. The episodes are united with the score of Georges Delerue and still photos of Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory 1961

The new science teacher Dr. Julian Olcott with a mysterious past arrives in an institutional boarding school for troublemaker girls. Along the night, the intern Mary Smith, who is blackmailing another teacher - Sir Alfred Whiteman - with some love letters, is slaughtered by a werewolf. The detective in charge of the investigation attributes the crime to a wolf, while her mate Priscilla believes she was killed by Sir Alfred. On the next days, other deaths happen in the school, reducing the list of suspects.

The Joy of Living 1961

Ulisse is a naive young man out looking for a job after being released from the army. He drops the offer he gets from a group of fascists to go in with the Fossatis, a family of anarchists (unknown to him).

Ostrożnie yeti 1961

Bad Luck 1960

To convince the prison warden against releasing him, a middle-aged Polish man recounts his life, one he considers to have been characterized by exceptionally bad luck.

When Angels Fall 1959

The twenty-one-minute-film is set in a men's public rest room and recounts the day to day existence of an elderly woman who serves as an attendant in the lavatory. As an endless procession of men pass before her, relieving themselves in the urinals, the attendant escapes her reality by daydreaming about the past and the soldier she once loved and the child she bore him.

Two Men and a Wardrobe 1958

The film features two men who emerge from the sea carrying a large wardrobe, which they proceed to carry into a town.

Ewa Wants to Sleep 1958

Ewa Bonecka, a young student about to start school in a new place finds herself without a place to sleep after she is declined a room in a women-only hotel. Helped by a pleasant policeman, Piotr, she tries to find a lodging in the strange town full of thieves and petty troublemakers.