Knights Of The Teutonic Order [1960] [DVD]

If you're into medieval history and if you like movies about crusades and knights, this should be for you. If you are a polish national, this is probably a must since this movie is about the combined polish and lithuanian army defeating the army of the Order of the Teutonic Knights in the battle of Grunwald (better known as Tannenberg in Germany) in 1410, thus destroying the mighty eastern empire of the Teutonic Knights. To my knowledge, no-one else has ever made a movie about this battle, one of the most important in recorded european (medieval) history.

HOWEVER

The quality of the DVD is sub-VHS standard. Despite the fact that Second Run states on the cover "Digitally re-mastered with restored image and sound" with "Optimal quality dual-layer disc" , there is no restauration at all visible and the quality could not be farther from "optimal".

First of all, the framing is wrong, so the picture is cut off on all sides - which is admitted in the booklet of said DVD:

"The films producers and Film Polski have confirmed that the only accessible source master of KotTO is the one we are releasing here. Although presented in widescreen anamorphic, please note that the image at 1.77:1 is not at the films originally shot Dyaliscope ratio. The film has been digitally re-mastered and newly-subtitled. But, due to the age and condition of the source master, there remains visual noise that could not be removed without compromising the integrity of the whole film and is most evident in the opening scene."

Secondly, the mentioned "noise" means that the picture is lacking brightness, detail, sharpness - basically everything you are expecting from a decent DVD release nowadays. A lot of scenes are so dark that you're trying to figure out what the heck is going on right now. Minor damages, speckles and dirt are visible throughout the movie. Since the DVD format now is nearly ten years old, this kind of "quality" is definitely not acceptable.

Obviously, neither Film Polski (Rights Holder) nor Second Run (Label) were willing to invest in a proper restauration of this classic. Therefore, after carefull consideration, I would recommed this DVD only if you are willing to overlook the massive quality-shortcomings of this product because the movie itself is definetely worth a look.

A young Polish Noble, Zbyszko (Mieczyslaw Kalenik) and his uncle Macko (Aleksander Fogiel) return from the wars against The Knights of the Teutonic Order in Lithuania. On their return Zbyszko falls in love with Danusia (Grazyna Staniszewska) a young Polish girl who is the daughter of the outlawed Jurand of Spychów (Andrzej Szalawski) who has been attacking Knights of The Order. Tensions grow as Zbyszko falls foul of a group of dishonourable Knights which eventually leads to the famous Battle of Grunwald.

This is a great film, filled with lots of different characters, a interesting story, which can be a little confusing at times as there is so much going on and the names can be hard to remember.

Director Aleksander Ford handles the film well and although the Polish are shown as Heroic and for the most part the Teutonic Knights are portrayed as evil he does show a few of them as honourable Knights.

My favourite character in the movie was Jurand and the best scene in my opinion was when he goes to the castle of the Teutonic Knights to pay the ransom for his daughters return and they refuse which results in him single handedly killing nine of their knights before been subdued.

There are two Battle sequences, one a small ambush in a forest and the other is Battle of Grunwald at the very end. The way the cavalry charges are filmed reminded me of Agincourt in Laurence Olivier's Henry V.

I would have given this film 5 Stars but the quality is poor and makes the film seem cheap and hard to watch at times. I really hope a DVD Quality version is released soon!!

Krzyzacy (Knights of the Teutonic Order) is a historical epic based on the book by Henryk Sienkiewicz. The story is a fictionalized account of the days leading up to the decisive Polish-Lithuanian and Teutonic battle on July 15, 1410. The Battle of Grunwald (or Tannenberg) began the decline of the Teutonic Order and is remembered and celebrated by its victors to this day. The word "Krzyzacy" in Polish is referring to the large cross the Teutonic Knights were known for wearing on their tunic, in a way calling them cross wearers. But these men of the cross also carried swords; their swords may have been used against pagans but Catholic Poles as well.

Running nearly three hours in length, Krzyzacy shows us the political intrigue that leads up to the famous battle. In a way, there is a lot of tit for tat between the Poles and the Teutonic Order. In the early part of the story, a Polish noblewoman is killed by the Teutonic Knights and her husband goes to avenger her. This leads to his daughter being taken hostage by the Order, which leads to further retaliation. After several skirmished and duels, the battle is set to happen. If you can, I would recommend watching Krzyzacy on a big screen to take in the massive final battle.

Unquestionably, Krzyzacy is a classic and ranks among the best-known Polish cinema. As Krzyzacy was made in 1960, not all the effects are realistic as they would be if made today. Although it would be great to see a remake of Krzyzacy, it still will remain a classic that brings history to life.