WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: On the Silver Globe 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:06.120 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:15.160 Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:17.919 This is Rob Lamb and I am Joe McCormick. And 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:20.200 today on Weird House Cinema, we are going to be 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:25.360 talking about the famous, slash infamous nineteen eighty eight Polish 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:31.360 science fiction epic On the Silver Globe, directed by Andre Zuofski. 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:35.919 I first became interested in this movie by reading about it. 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:41.680 Several film critics and historians that I came across characterized 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:45.440 On the Silver Globe kind of like the final boss 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:51.040 of weird movies, as like the ultimate Macdaddy of weird, difficult, 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:55.800 fascinating films, and it's been described in a lot of 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:59.680 superlative terms. It's one of the most beautiful, one of 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:02.880 the ugliest, one of the most astounding, one of the 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:08.240 most exhausting and utterly bizarre, intensely compelling and impossible to 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:11.680 follow films ever made. And having seen it now I 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:14.160 have to agree with all of that. I found this 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:20.800 film both both amazingly interesting and tiring and difficult to 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:26.399 the point of annoyance. I have such such strong reactions 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:29.520 in multiple directions to it, but I'm really glad we 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:31.440 saw it, and I think it's a film that most 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:33.520 people should try to see if they can at some 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:36.960 point just be prepared. You are in for a very long, 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:42.640 very tiring, highly confusing experience, but it's also extremely rewarding. 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:45.360 I do want to add a caveat here that it 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:48.840 is and this is all subjective, of course, it's never boring, 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:52.240 and it is also not a when we talk about 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:55.320 films that are, you know, sometimes challenging to watch, this 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:58.440 film is not a film that is cruel. It's not 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:00.600 a film that is like daring you to watch it 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:03.760 or anything of that nature. I mean, there's some there's 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:06.880 some grizzly moments, there are some you know, there are 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:09.280 some bloody moments, but it's not one of those those 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:12.480 films that like has it in for the audience. It 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:15.360 it wants the audience to go on the journey with it. 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:18.120 Right right. It is a movie that's difficult, but not 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:21.000 because it's like Waaldewall torture scenes, though there are some. 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:25.519 There are some scenes of physical pain and trauma, but 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:29.720 that's not what the movie is largely about. So despite 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:32.680 the enormous run time of this movie, I think the 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:35.079 cut that I saw, which I think is the main 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:38.200 cut available, was one hundred and sixty six minutes. Was 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:39.040 that yours? Rob? 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:39.960 I believe so? 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:44.280 Yes, so very long movie, two hours and forty six minutes. 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:44.480 Wrong? 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:46.280 Am I doing the math right there? Yeah? 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:48.760 Believe sow forty four to forty six something like that? 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:51.960 It is, It's not even close. It is the longest 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:54.160 movie that we have watched for Weird House Cinema. 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:59.760 And despite that massive runtime, this film is technically unfinished 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:03.440 as the original production in the nineteen seventies. We can 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:05.560 talk more about the production process as we go on, 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:09.079 but when they were originally shooting this movie, it was 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:12.840 shut down by Polish authorities in the year nineteen seventy 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:16.880 seven with roughly twenty percent of the movie yet to 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:21.000 be filmed, had not been filmed yet, and I understand 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:24.440 that at one point what was shot the eighty percent 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:27.399 we have was supposed to have been destroyed, but by 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:32.359 some miscommunication or stroke of luck, it was not. And then, 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:37.120 roughly a decade after the production was halted, the still 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:41.080 existing pieces of the movie were put together by the 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:46.160 director by Andre Zuowski, with the gaps patched over by 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:49.720 voiceover narration and in a strange choice, but one that 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:52.720 I think actually works quite well Tonally, It's kind of 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:57.480 hard to explain exactly why modern documentary footage unrelated to 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:00.480 the plot of the film is just shown while director 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:03.520 is explaining what happens in the unfilmed scenes. 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:07.040 Yeah, that is an interesting choice because I've seen other 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:10.800 unfinished or partially lost films where they'll stitch things together 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:14.360 with say storyboards or illustrations or something to that effect. 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:17.880 So this is a choice that it first seemed rather jarring. 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:20.280 I'm like, what are we doing, what's happening? Why are 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:26.679 we in contemporary Polish urban environment? Here? Is this supposed 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:28.080 to be a world of the film? No, it is 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:30.520 not a world in the film. It is, but it 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:34.000 is not also completely disconnected from the film, so it 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:36.839 ultimately ends up working like you're saying, but it is 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:37.839 a unique choice. 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:43.839 Often, somehow the documentary film that's paired with the voiceover 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:48.640 narration seems to connect in a feeling way to what's 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:51.920 going on, even if it doesn't connect in a concrete way, 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:56.479 Like there'll be a scene where something is being uncovered, 0:04:56.560 --> 0:04:59.560 and there is kind of the documentary camera seems to 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:02.000 un cover something in a way. 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:05.360 Yeah, yeah, and it's and as we'll be discussing, there 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:09.200 is often a kind of documentary point of view, almost 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:15.320 found footage vibe to the camera work in the movie proper, Okay, 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:18.920 So that connects nicely, I think with this added footage 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:21.440 of these European streets. I'm not sure offhand of these 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:23.440 I am assuming Polish, but it could have been. These 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:27.280 could be French streets, because I know Zubowski spent time 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:28.560 in France as well. Well. 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:31.520 Even the original footage of the movie, like the first 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:35.320 third of the movie is like the the Blair Planet Project. 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:39.400 You know, it's it's filmed via not exactly clear what 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:42.360 the sci fi devices are, but there's like video diaries, 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:44.640 so we get tons of point of view shots. 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:47.599 And the memory of the video diaries and so forth, 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:50.880 and then there's just a lot there's there's there are 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:56.720 extensive monologues that are about like the voyeuristic quality of film, 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:59.359 because you have characters in the in the film that 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:03.200 are filming things and recording things and documenting things. And 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:07.160 one character in particular of the old Man, ends up 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:09.359 ruminating on this for a while, like what does it 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:11.919 mean that I don't speak? But I absorb and so forth. 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:13.960 So there's a lot in the film that seems to 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:19.320 be speaking to a director slash creator's experience, and then 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:21.520 we see that reflected back into these bits about the 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:22.880 lost portions of the film. 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:25.800 Yeah, that's right. I mean, for example, there are parts 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:29.000 where when the characters are looking into one of the 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:32.240 other characters faces as they're recording a so called video diary, 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:35.520 like one of them sort of tries to direct for them. 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:37.839 They say, like turn it off now, you fools, this 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:41.440 is not the right time or something. But then there's 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:44.440 another thing that connects to that about the sort of 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:49.240 metafilmmaking themes of the movie is how many characters throughout 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:53.839 the plot are described as actors. This is a recurring 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:57.159 theme that like, well, it'll make more sense once we 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:01.440 describe the plot that exists. But like a society that 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:05.520 emerges on another planet as it is colonized by humans, 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:09.279 and it seems that a major function within the emerging 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:13.760 society is that of an actor. Somebody who says I'm 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:16.160 an actor, I'm playing a role, and they'll like look 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:18.320 into the camera at certain moments and say, how do 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:19.320 you like my acting? 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:24.760 Yeah? Yeah, in this kind of bohemian, pagan, post apocalyptic 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:30.880 society that emerges on this alien world. We see important 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:35.440 roles set aside for of course martyrs and saviors, but 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:39.920 also ultimately filmmakers and profits and actors. 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:42.960 And presumably the designers of parade floats, because we get 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:46.320 those two. Yeah, So we'll probably talk a bit more 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:48.960 about the production of the movie in a bit here, 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:52.360 but just to say at the beginning, the production was 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:58.640 quite famously intense, expensive and challenging. I think demanded a 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:03.000 lot of the actors, and there are some reports that 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:08.000 like it was a rewarding but grueling experience. It was 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:11.800 very expensive and lavish. It was like an extravagant production. 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:14.840 They shot in many different locations all over the place, 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:18.080 from the Gobi Desert to the Baltic coast of Poland 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:21.840 and places in between, I think in the Caucasus mountains. 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:28.200 It was just supposedly incredibly intense. And then it was 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.320 brought to a conclusion before they had actually finished making 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:34.720 the movie, because the Polish authorities shut it down for 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:39.040 some reason. There is dispute about what that reason actually was, like, 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:43.800 was it related to was it related to supposedly subversive 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:47.280 themes of the film that the authorities were uncomfortable with. 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:51.400 Was it related to them going over budget and just 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:55.600 like it being too expensive or was it one article 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:58.160 I was reading. I don't know how seriously this suggestion 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:00.640 is made, but there's a very good article about the 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:03.880 movie you can look up in Film Comment magazine by 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:09.320 a writer named Jonathan Romney, who mentions first of all 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:12.640 that On the Silver Globe is sort of the one 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:16.480 of the defining examples of a film mode in the 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:20.560 French expression m audit meaning a cursed film, a film 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:24.760 that just like doesn't really belong in this world. In fact, 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.880 Romney says that it is. It's a film mode made 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:32.679 by a director who seemed to specialize in making film mode. 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:35.960 But also he mentions the possibility that it could have 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:38.200 been shut down just because people were looking at this 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:41.360 and like, people can't take like forty more minutes of 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:43.559 this movie, you know, even the eighty percent we have 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:46.840 is one hundred and sixty six minutes long, and it's 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:50.280 and it's so intense. It's going to be it's going 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:53.640 to be amazing if people sit through this whole thing 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:55.720 and can take it in all at once. 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:59.080 Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And you can imagine that some of 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:03.720 the more aversive qualities, and there's plenty of places you 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:05.640 can point to in the film that these may have 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:10.440 been some definite contributing factors to like the order to 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:12.400 destroy the film, because of course it's one thing to 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:16.040 cancel something for going over budget, but to say, actually 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:19.360 we want this erased from the world. And again, like 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:22.600 you said, thankfully that effort was not fruitful. 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:25.880 So what we're left with is, in my opinion, a 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:31.439 really truly fascinating artifact, not necessarily something that's going to 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:34.800 be fun viewing for your regular movie night, Like you 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:37.000 need to commit, you need to know what you're getting 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:40.400 into with this one, But if you're willing to go there, 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:44.240 it is an amazing film. It exhibits at once a 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:48.160 weird genius and a deep passion like for all of 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.400 the you know, we'll have some things to say about 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:56.000 this movie's almost random feeling philosophical monologues, but it is 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:59.160 clearly a movie made with deep feeling. The feeling is 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:01.200 just pouring out of it, and it's hard not to 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:05.040 be infected by some of that. Also, just the textural 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:08.160 genius of it, all of the costumes and the sets 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:12.680 and the visual composition is just amazing, but it also 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:16.320 does have a kind of artistic belligerence to it, like 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:18.679 it is rob You you mentioned that it's not a 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:21.480 movie that's like, you know, trying to harm the audience 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.360 by just showing them gross torture scenes and all that. 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:27.400 I agree, it's not like that, but it is kind 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:29.760 of a belligerent film, Like in a way it is 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:32.800 challenging your attention to single combat. 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:36.440 Yeah, it is a film that will philosophically berate you 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:41.960 and you want to take it all in. You're like 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:45.760 this because the acting scenes in which we get these 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:50.080 extended monologues, they're often just just amazing. Like the energy 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:54.160 of the performance and the severity of the performance is 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:58.560 just so enthralling. But it is kind of a struggle 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:01.960 at times to really fall follow all the threads that 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:02.880 are going on there. 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:07.160 In that article and film comment, Jonathan Romney describes sort 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:10.319 of a set of films that don't feel like they 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.640 belong in our world, that feel like they sort of 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:17.240 come from another place, And he writes quote adhering neither 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:21.040 to familiar screen aesthetics nor to the customary logic of 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:26.359 filmmaking economics, they present themselves as free floating, lawless bodies, 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:32.280 autonomously occupying their own sectors of the filmic cosmos. And 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:35.560 I think that nails it. That's what this movie feels like. 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:40.520 It is a free floating lawless body. Yeah. 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:42.920 I mean it is difficult to compare this to other films, 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:47.400 and certainly almost impossible to try to make it adhere 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:50.160 to the laws of other films and to the framework 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:53.199 of other films. That it has its own vibe, its 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:58.040 own rules, and you can't fault it for following that pathway. 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:01.080 So yes, this is indeed a Polish film, and in 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:04.559 fact it is our first Polish film on weird House cinema, 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:07.320 and I have to say it might also be my 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:11.160 first purely Polish film viewing experience, you know, not counting 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:14.160 like co productions and of course various films with Polish 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:18.559 talent or Polish you know, authorship and so forth. So 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:20.840 we can put another pin in the map and another 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:24.840 apology to France. We'll get to weird French movies eventually, 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:27.760 so often we'll throw in an elevator pitch here. I 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.440 don't know that an elevator pitch can really do this 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:33.640 film justice, so we might have to skip that, but 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:37.920 it is. It is an epically weird film in multiple ways. 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:39.840 So it is a it is a it is a 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:42.000 fitting pit for weird house cinema. 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:44.800 It's kind of an alternate Book of Genesis set on 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:48.319 another planet, Like, yeah, like a sci fi book of Genesis. 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:50.760 Or maybe it's bigger than Genesis. Maybe it's like the 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:55.120 whole Bible set on another planet. It's really got everything 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:59.600 it's got. It's got saviors and profits and strife and 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:04.800 concret quest and loss, and it's got it all. 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:08.200 Yeah. And aliens. It's got some really cool aliens. Yeah. 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:11.000 In a way, it reminds me a little bit of 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:14.000 Paradise Lost, only instead of trying to justify the ways 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:16.480 of God to man, it's trying to justify the ways 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:19.000 of man to God by by shouting at God. 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:21.880 Yeah. 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:24.720 All right, let's go ahead and listen to some trailer audio. 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:28.200 This is from I'm honestly not sure if this is 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:30.520 in any way an original trailer. This one was posted 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:33.760 by the Austin Film Society. This might be more aligned 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:36.360 with a recent re release of the film, which I'll 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:38.480 mention here in a bit, but it should give you 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:40.520 some flavor and you'll get to hear some of the 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:41.960 Polish language of this film. 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:45.000 Are we going to hear one of the Sharns talking, Yes. 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:46.359 We will hear a sharn. 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:25.240 Esta es. Yeah. Yeah, you still scord, Yeah, you still 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:28.680 want to be champas of tenty eighteen, station to be 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:38.200 champs of them or it's your papa a pianetto for 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:39.040 pretty us. 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:57.800 All right, So that gives you just a little little taste, 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:01.240 but insufficient, because this is a film full of sights 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:04.120 and sounds that I just have to be absorbed over 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:09.240 the course of nearly three hours, and even the language itself. Again, 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:12.520 I don't think I'd watched anything in the Polish language before, 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:15.480 a film in the Polish language before, and this is 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:17.800 like a lot. There's a lot of Polish language to 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:22.000 absorb here watching it in Polish with English subtitles, and 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:24.800 as is often the case, you know, like the rhythm 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:29.600 and the poetry, all the language seeps into you even 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:31.800 if you don't you know, understand it, even as you're 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:34.760 reading it, along with the dialogue and these performances. 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:38.800 Yeah, obviously I don't speak Polish, but there were little 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.600 moments where like a word I would recognize would like 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:44.120 hit and lock in. Like, there were many points in 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:46.960 the movie where somebody would place huge emphasis on the 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:48.640 word provda meaning truth. 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:49.400 Yeah, And. 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:54.640 There were a few things like that, the word the 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.120 Polish word for earth, which I forget now there are 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:00.800 parts where that is sort of repeated in fatically and 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:02.720 it kind of burns in. Yeah. 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:06.680 So that's always an interesting experience in a foreign language film. 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:09.080 All right, If you would like to see on the 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:13.399 Silver Globe before we proceed here, well it is. You 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:16.399 can get it. That's the good news. However, as of 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:20.359 this recording, there's sadly neither a current legit streaming option 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.760 or a Region A or region free disc as far 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:27.480 as I'm aware of, but the film has been restored 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:30.720 in HD. Eureka Video in the UK put out a 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:34.280 great looking Region B blu ray with a bunch of extras. 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:37.840 I think we have heard that a Region A or 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:40.320 some sort of region free release might be on the way, 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:43.200 but I don't know the details on that or who's 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:43.760 putting it out. 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:45.880 I hope they do. I mean, I know this movie 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:50.080 has been shown in screenings at like art house theaters 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:53.800 and stuff in recent years, but I don't know who 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:56.639 is actually working on a disc release that can be 0:17:57.320 --> 0:17:59.879 seen in all your regular players in the US. But 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:01.920 but yeah, I hope that's coming soon. 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:05.240 Yeah. Yeah, So you watch this on a disc rented 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:08.199 from Videodrome, and I ended up just watching it on YouTube, 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:10.359 just because that's the best way I could get it, 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:12.960 and it ended up getting really good film quality. But 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:15.760 of course none of that is guaranteed when you're depending 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:19.639 on YouTube rips of movies. So still looking forward to 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:22.040 a proper region A or reading free to release in 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:31.480 the future. All right, Well, let's talk a bit about 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:33.920 some of the people involved here, and in doing so 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:36.200 we'll sort of also go through some of the main characters, 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:39.760 I guess, before getting into the plot. Starting here at 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:43.400 the top with Andrea Zuwawski, the director and the writer 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:48.000 screenplay credit on this. He lived nineteen forty through twenty sixteen, 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:51.440 Ukrainian born Polish director and writer who made a career 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:55.560 of really going against the mainstream and state sensibilities, appealing 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:58.920 ultimately more to art house tastes, while also working with 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:02.200 some of the biggest names Polish cinema. He studied cinema 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:06.960 in France and then served under Polish director Andre Wasta, 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:10.639 and he directed a pair of nineteen sixty nine TV 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:13.840 movies which I'll come back to, and then he directed 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:16.679 a film titled The Third Part of Night in nineteen 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:19.480 seventy one. I haven't seen this one, but I've read 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:24.359 that it's a rather intense and horrific holocaust drama with 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:29.200 various dreamlike elements to it. And in nineteen seventy two, 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:33.560 he's credited with directing two episodes of the Polish Christopher 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:38.720 Lee hosted horror anthology series Theater Macabre. Though these two 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:41.680 episodes that he directed seemed to be these same short 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:44.600 films from nineteen sixty nine, so they might have just 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:48.240 been repackaged for TV anthology usage, which of course is 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:51.000 not unheard of with horror anthology series in general. 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:55.680 Was Christopher Lee hosting an exclusively Polish show or is 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:58.120 this a show that aired in multiple countries? 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:01.080 Now? This was a Polish horror thought the series, and 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:03.399 you know they were able to get Christopher Lee to 0:20:03.480 --> 0:20:05.760 come in probably similar to we were talking recently about 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:10.720 a small scale Canadian production that brought in Vincent Price 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:13.000 to do something similar. So they probably brought him in 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:14.840 for like a day, and he reported all this stuff. 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:17.480 Yeah, they shot all his segments and then they just 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:18.160 space him out. 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:22.840 That would makes sense, and perhaps repackaged some already existing 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:26.240 films and commissioned some other short works. So yeah, I'd 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:28.760 love to hear from anyone in any of our Polish 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:33.800 listeners or listeners with access or memories of Polish television. 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:36.960 Perhaps you can provide more information about this. 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:39.680 Nineteen seventy two I think that would have been right 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:42.320 around the time of the Wickerman. By the way, Wickerman 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:45.240 is maybe what seventy three? Oh yeah, so you're getting 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:48.480 that Christopher Lee, which is all the Christopher Lees are great, 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:50.120 but that's the best one I think. 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:54.840 All right, So after this, Zuotsky follows it up with 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:59.119 the nineteen seventy two historical satanic horror film The Devil 0:20:59.840 --> 0:21:03.360 and I also have not seen this one, but apparently 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:07.560 there's plenty in here to poke Polish authorities, because they 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:10.520 ended up banning the film in Poland. And in the 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:13.000 midst of this, Zuotsky moves to France. 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:16.679 I heard it described as him being basically exiled. 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:21.120 Yeah, yeah too, it was too much, so he ends 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:23.800 up going to France. After this, he makes the nineteen 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:28.120 seventy five French romance drama That most Important Thing Love. 0:21:28.800 --> 0:21:32.040 And he returned to Poland for his next project, which is, 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:37.080 of course the ambitious adaptation of his grandfather's science fiction novels. 0:21:37.440 --> 0:21:40.520 This is On the Silver Globe, shot between nineteen seventy 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:42.160 six and nineteen seventy seven. 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:45.119 Yeah, so, from what I understand, on the Silver Globe 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:47.720 is the title of the first of a cycle of 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:51.440 three science fiction novels that Zuofsky's grandfather wrote. 0:21:51.760 --> 0:21:55.560 Yeah, the Lunar Trilogy. Yeah, and a little more on 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:58.920 the grandfather here in just a minute. So we've already 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:02.240 discussed the problems this production, and we'll probably touch on 0:22:02.280 --> 0:22:05.680 it a bit more. Needless to say, the film does 0:22:05.760 --> 0:22:07.639 not come out in the late seventies. It's going to 0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:10.680 be another decade before it comes out. After for a 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:14.080 while it may seem that it is completely lost. So 0:22:15.240 --> 0:22:17.560 but he keeps me moving on. You know, He's going 0:22:17.640 --> 0:22:21.879 to keep making films. So Zowski after this point makes 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:25.879 what might be his best known film internationally, one that 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:28.040 I think if you've spent any amount of time like 0:22:28.160 --> 0:22:31.680 I have, rummaging around in video rental stores, you've probably 0:22:31.720 --> 0:22:33.359 seen the box out for this one because it has 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:37.040 like an illustration of a gorgon of a Medusa on 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:40.080 the cover. This is the nineteen eighty one psycho sexual 0:22:40.160 --> 0:22:41.400 horror film Possession. 0:22:41.760 --> 0:22:45.480 I've never seen this, but I've heard I've heard it 0:22:45.560 --> 0:22:48.440 described actually in kind of similar terms like intense and 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:49.800 difficult but very good. 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:54.400 Yeah. Yeah. It stars French actress Isabelle and Johnny sam 0:22:54.560 --> 0:23:01.399 Neil and German actress Margaret Carstensen. And yeah, I was 0:23:01.680 --> 0:23:03.280 reading a little bit. I haven't seen this one either. 0:23:03.280 --> 0:23:05.760 I'm just familiar with it by reputation. And I did 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:09.480 see some interview segments from sam Neil and also from 0:23:09.640 --> 0:23:12.359 a Johnny who were pointing out that he out this 0:23:12.560 --> 0:23:16.640 was a rewarding but grueling acting experience that they're glad 0:23:16.680 --> 0:23:20.000 they did when they were younger. And these are like, 0:23:20.119 --> 0:23:22.600 you know, decade or two old interviews, so we're not 0:23:22.680 --> 0:23:25.920 dealing with like, you know, current sam Neil reflecting on 0:23:26.000 --> 0:23:28.639 a film from the eighties. This is like nineties or 0:23:28.680 --> 0:23:32.160 early two thousand, Sam Neils reflecting on a film he did. 0:23:32.960 --> 0:23:36.119 I'm in my Jurassic Park era. Yeah, Jurassic Park and 0:23:36.200 --> 0:23:39.840 Event Horizon. I can't do stuff like Possession anymore. Where 0:23:39.920 --> 0:23:42.160 we were going, we won't need eyes to make films. 0:23:42.600 --> 0:23:46.440