Cast

Julia Przyboś, Stanisław Niedbalski, Andrzej Munk

awards

International Documentary Festival, Venice 1959 – First Prize in the Documentary-Feature Category; Edinburgh IFF 1959 – Special Mention; International West German Short Film Days, Oberhausen 1960 – diploma; 10th International Festival of Tourist and Folklore Films, Brussels 1960 – Award for Best Fictionalised Tourist Film; Vancouver IFF 1961 – Honorary Mention

Film description

This work is unusual in Munk’s oeuvre – it is a subtle, charming, and cheerful impression with no dialogue. Everyday life plays first fiddle against the backdrop of Warsaw’s Old City. A young girl attending fiddle lessons shows the audience around town, with all the puerile freshness of perception, alertness to detail and music. This ‘symphony of everyday life’ rings out with numerous instruments, like tuned church organs. Others play only metaphorically, like the janitor’s broom, cobblers’ mallets, bottles rattling on a window sill, or motorcycle engines. Munk briefly appears in the movie – he is the man inside a phone booth. In the background, distant echoes of the Warsaw Uprising reverberate through the air.

Munk was a music lover, particularly sensitive to film soundtracks, where he demanded the sound complement the cinematic visuals. All his shorts and features reflect this, and A Walk in the Old City of Warsaw is the best expression. Music by Andrzej Markowski, who conceived the film, merges perfectly with the images for a masterful whole.