Coach To Vienna — Coach To Vienna (Blu Ray)
From the mid-1960 Coach To Vienna is a lullingly moody psychological thriller come wartime drama. The Czech new wave film is a glum, if at points tense & emotional road movie, which finds a young widow whose husband has been murdered by Nazis- transporting two German soldiers on a horse and carriage, though a seemingly terminal misty and endless alpine forest. Here from those great resurrectors of Czech film is a new way Blu Ray release of the film- featuring a crisp and clean 4K scan of the black & white picture, a commentary track, and a recently rediscovered early feature-length film from the same director.
Released in 1966 Coach To Vienna (aka Kocár do Vídne) was directed by Vyskov Czech Republic born Karel Kachyna. In total between the years 1950 and 2003 he has an impressive sixty-nine credits to his name- taking in forty-three feature lengths, as well as documentaries, shorts, and TV movies. Feature length wise his output goes from wartime set drama adventure The Lost Track (1956), romantic drama regarding a twelve-year girl & a black stallion The Stress of Youth(1962), political drama thriller The Ear(1970), The Little Mermaid(1976)- which is seen as the best telling of this fairy tale. Holocaust drama The Last Butterfly (1991), and period drama The Cow(1994).
The film is set in the final days of WWII- where under distress twenty-something widow Krista(Iva Janzurová) is transporting two German soldiers, Hans (Jaromír Hanzlík) and his badly wounded superior office Günther (Ludek Munzar), on her horse and carriage. In after-credits rolling captions we find out Krista husband was hung by the Nazis's for stealing cerement- so ideas of revenge are darting through her mind.
The threes' journey takes them through a mist heavy evergreen forest- which is set in eternally gloomy half-light, with the forest track being seemingly largely unchanging & seemingly endless. To begin with, the tightly scarf-wearing and stern-looking Krista remains largely silent, as the unhurt Hans talks- at first, it’s just brash orders, but as their journey continues his more human side starts to show- as we find he has a wife, and children. From time-to-time Günther rises from his hurt slumber- he is very focused and officious.
As the film and journey unfolds Krista silently ponders about revenge- thinking about grabbing either the axe attached to the bottom of the carriage or the soldier’s weapons. But as she gets to know Han’s things become less clear- and here I’ll finish the plot description, as any more will rather spoil the film.
The journey through the woods is filmed in a decidedly haunting & atmospheric manner- when looking up through the trees, or down through the tree range the mist is deep. Over the top of this, we find a classical baroque score, which blends string with organ work- this has a decidedly religious and at points rising harmonic flow- initially it felt somewhat out of place, but as the film progresses it makes for an interesting & effective contrast to the three’s journey.
The small cast is wonderfully picked- Janzurová as the widowed Krista moves from stern yet cleverly nuanced acting, later on to more openly emotional. Hanzlík as Hans also goes through an interesting character arc, with the competent young actor being most believable. I won’t discuss anyone else, because again this will rather spoil the film.
On the whole Coach to Vienna is an extremely moody and slowly paced film- you have to really sink into the at first subtle character interaction, to get pulled into both the drama & creeping psychological thriller flow of the film. If you do, you’ll find it a lulling compelling, at times rather emotionally affecting picture- which in the end doesn’t quite resolve in the way you thought it might have done
Moving onto this region free blu ray release, and we have a 4k transfer of the film- this is marvellous crisp and clear, really intensifying the film's atmosphere. On the extra front, we get a commentary track from The Projection Booth podcast- which takes in film historians Mike White, Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger. As you’d expect with these three, we get a very well researched and observed track. They start off debating if the title is coach or carriage and debate the connotations of each. They comment on the film's very one-act stage play feel and point out that its inmate/ slow rhythm is quite different from other new wave Czech films of the period. They mention the gothic feel of cinematography, and talk about the film not getting proper/ full release when it was first made. Later on, they discuss the nuanced performances, and how very little is given away about the character's past. They talk about the historic context of this time in Czechoslovakia, just as the war was winding down, and much much more. Another very fine track from The Projection Booth.
Otherwise, on the disc, we have It’s Not Always Cloudy (aka Není stále zamraceno) from 1949. This was Karel Kachyna's recently rediscovered graduation film- it runs at the one hour and eight-minute mark and is a staged documentary. It focuses on a new administrator moving to a mountain village on the Czech/ Moldova border, shortly after the end of WWII. The village is near deserted with farm animals roaming, houses left abandoned, and just a few people living in the area. He starts by trying to get the farms back and running, then moving people back into the village houses, as well as bringing his wife & young family. The film is largely narrated by the administrator, with a few other characters popping in along the way as narrators. The picture has a very government made public information film quality, though the village is nicely filmed throughout the seasons, and there are some interesting/ weather-worn faces appearing. Lastly, the disc has a trailer & image gallery on it.
As with all Second Run films, the release comes with a glossy twenty-page booklet- this features a new essay on the film by author and Czechoslovak cinema specialist Jonathan Owen. As well as stills from the film, and full credits.
Once again another classy reissue of a film from the Czech new wave from the folks at Second Run. If you enjoy glumly psychological thrillers, come wartime dramas, then this is most certainly something that will be of great interest. And of course, if you have an interest in thought-provoking and thoughtful world film in general- do check out the rest of the label's catalogue just here.