Facets DVD

It's great to have this (and other) Polish films available for the general US audience. While the films Wajda, Kieslowski and Polanski have been available for a generation, films like "Vabank" have only been available here in editions without subtitles.

That said, I have to say that this step in the right direction is a pretty small one. The transfer on this Facets release is really bad. It looks like it was transferred in somebody's basement directly from the VHS to DVD. The subtitles are shockingly bad - for example, at one point Kwinto goes to a football match and as the crowd roars, someone responds to him, "There wasn't sir. Illegible text."

Illegible text?

What bothers me most about it is that even if the subtitles were written by someone with rudimentary skills in English, someone along the line during the production of the disc should have noticed that error - one among many.


These two issues are especially bothersome considering the selling price is comparable to a Criterion release. While I enjoyed the film itself, the poor subtitling and the transfer was a definite distraction.

Here's a question - since I cannot find an answer anywhere online. Was this film originally presented in the 1.33:1 ratio?