The Hour-Glass Sanatorium (1973) Sanatorium pod klepsydra (original title)

Director:

Wojciech Has

Writers:

Wojciech Has
Bruno Schulz (story)

Release Date:

12 December 1973 (Poland)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

Set in pre- World War II era. A young man is on a strange train to see his dying father in a sanatorium...

Plot Keywords:

Train | Father | Memory | Alternate Dimension | Metaphysics

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Jan Nowicki	...	Józef
Tadeusz Kondrat	...	Jakub - Józef's father
Irena Orska	...	Józef's mother
Halina Kowalska	...	Adela
Gustaw Holoubek	...	Dr. Gotard
Mieczyslaw Voit	...	Blind Conductor
Bozena Adamek	...	Bianka
Ludwik Benoit	...	Szloma
Henryk Boukolowski	...	Fireman
Seweryn Dalecki	...	Teodor
Julian Jabczynski	...	Dignitary
Jerzy Przybylski	...	Mr. de Voss
Wiktor Sadecki	...	Dignitary
Janina Sokolowska	...	Nurse
Wojciech Standello	...	Jew Interlocutor in Restaurant
Tadeusz Schmidt	...	Officer
Szymon Szurmiej	...	Jewish Man Reciting False Qoheleth's Verses
Jan Szurmiej	...	Instructive Jewish Man
Michal Szwejlich	...	Jewish Man by the Ladder
Pawel Unrug	...	Ornithologist
Filip Zylber	...	Rudolf
Marek Barbasiewicz	...	Waiter (as M. Barbasiewicz)
Jerzy Bekker	...	Wax Figure of Napoleon III (as J. Bekker)
Jerzy Braszka	...	Wax Figure of Leatherstocking (as J. Braszka)
Zofia Bajuk	...	Wax Figure of Queen Elizabeth (as Z. Bajuk)
Emir Buczacki	...	Wax Figure of Benito Juarez (as J. E. Buczacki)
Romuald Drobaczynski		(as R. Drobaczynski)
Andrzej Herder	...	Wax Figure of Buffalo Bill (as A. Herder)
Jolanta Hanisz	...	Bianka's Mother (as J. Hanisz)
J. Jablonski
Jerzy Janeczek	...	Wax Figure of Luigi Lucheni (as J. Janeczek)
Marek Jasinski		(as M. Jasinski)
Elzbieta Kijowska		(as E. Kijowska)
Leszek Kowalewski	...	Wax Figure of a Young Genius (as L. Kowalewski)
Miroslawa Lombardo	...	Wax Figure of Queen Draga (as M. Lombardo)
Irena Malkiewicz	...	Lady in Black (as I. Malkiewicz)
B. Mierzejewski	...	Wax Figure of Franz Josef (as B. Mierzejewski)
Wlodzimierz Nowak	...	Wax Figure of Archduke Maximilian (as W. Nowak)
Barbara Okonska-Kozlowska	...	Tluja (as B. Okonska-Kozlowska)
Stanislaw Olczyk	...	Wax Figure of Victor Emmanuel (as S. Olczyk)
Józef Lodynski	...	Majordomo in Panopticon (as J. Lodynski)
Czeslaw Piaskowski	...	Wax Figure of Otto von Bismarck (as Cz. Piaskowski)
P. Podgórski	...	Wax Figure of Maximilien de Robespierre
Edward Radulski		(as E. Radulski)
Barbara Rogalska		(as B. Rogalska)
W. Rutecki
Wladyslaw Sitko	...	Wax Figure of Alfred Dreyfus (as W. Sitko)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Waldemar Gawlik	...	Unnamed Character (uncredited)
Jolanta Jackowska	...	Wax Figure of Charlotte Corday (uncredited)
Alicja Kluba	...	Wax Figure of George Sand (uncredited)
Leopold R. Nowak	...	Rudy / Ptak (uncredited)
Jerzy Trela	...	Wesolek (uncredited)
Stanislaw Tylczynski	...	Wax Figure of Thomas Edison (uncredited)

Directed by
Wojciech Has		(as Wojciech J. Has)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Wojciech Has		(as Wojciech J. Has)
Bruno Schulz		story "Santorium pod Klepsydra"

Original Music by
Jerzy Maksymiuk

Cinematography by
Witold Sobocinski

Film Editing by
Janina Niedzwiecka

Production Design by
Andrzej Plocki
Jerzy Skarzynski

Set Decoration by
Maciej Maria Putowski		(as Maciej M. Putowski)

Costume Design by
Lidia Skarzynska
Jerzy Skarzynski

Makeup Department
Halina Ber	....	makeup artist
Alicja Kozlowska	....	assistant makeup artist
Anna Smiech	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Urszula Orczykowska	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Halina Garus	....	first assistant director
Alicja Kluba	....	second assistant director (as A. Chmielewska)
W. Pawlowski	....	second assistant director
Andrzej Reiter	....	second assistant director (as A. Reiter)

Art Department
Piotr Dudzinski	....	assistant production designer
Stefan Filipiak	....	construction coordinator (as S. Filipiak)
Andrzej Halinski	....	assistant production designer
Kazimierz Kutz	....	artistic supervisor

Sound Department
Zygmunt Nowak	....	assistant sound (as Z. Nowak)
Janusz Rosól	....	sound
Wlodzimierz Wisniewski	....	assistant sound (as W. Wisniewski)

Special Effects by
Wlodzimierz Czachowski	....	special effects

Stunts
Henryk Jacek Schoen	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Jerzy Bialek	....	assistant camera (as J. Bialek)
Waclaw Dybowski	....	camera operator
Janusz Kalicinski	....	still photographer (as J. Kalicinski)
Jerzy Klimkiewicz	....	gaffer (as J. Klimkiewicz)
Jan Mogilnicki	....	camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Jolanta Jackowska	....	wardrobe supervisor
Roman Mazanek	....	wardrobe supervisor
Alicja Ptaszynska	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Barbara Krzyczmonik	....	assistant editor (as B. Krzyczmonik)

Music Department
Anna Izykowska-Mironowicz	....	music consultant (as Anna Izykowska)

Other crew
Waldemar Król	....	production assistant
Feliks Netz	....	literary supervisor
Leopold R. Nowak	....	researcher
Marek Pawinski	....	laboratory chief
Roman Pytel	....	script consultant
Anatol Stern	....	script consultant
Zygmunt Wojak	....	production assistant
Zygmunt Wójcik	....	production assistant
Andrzej Zielonka	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Zespól Filmowy "Silesia"

Distributors

• Film Polski (1973) (Poland) (theatrical)
• Jeck Films (2003) (France) (theatrical) (reissue)
• Best Film CO (2003) (Poland) (DVD)
• Malavida (200?) (France) (DVD)
• Mr Bongo Films (2008) (UK) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Sanatorium pod klepsydra" - Poland (original title)
"The Sandglass" - International (English title) (informal title)

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

Poland

Language:

Polish

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Wytwórnia Filmów Fabularnych, Lódz, Lódzkie, Poland

Company:

Zespól Filmowy "Silesia"

Trivia:

Wojciech Has worked on this project for five years.

Best Holocaust Fiction

It is amazing that so many people can see this film without realizing that its subtext and central subject is the Shoah (Holocaust); its unspeakable and incomprehensible enormity in the mind, especially in Communist Poland where the memory of that history was somewhat suppressed. This is really the best fictional treatment of the Shoah on film, because of its indirection in dealing with this terrible subject. It is simultaneously an adaptation of a literary work by a victim of the Nazis, Bruno Shulz, who explored the world and imagery of the unconscious, fantastic and dreams like no other. It is probably the best evocation of this world ever committed to film. The film will be tedious to some, but those willing to immerse themselves in it will emerge, like the protagonist, forever changed by the experience. By the way, this film is NOT set in prewar Poland, but in some indeterminate time after the war. Where Shulz was the prewar victim haunted by memories of his father and childhood, the protagonist in this film is the postwar survivor haunted by the fate of his own father's generation - and world.