So who killed the cashier? I recommend everyone, everyone, everyone to watch this old, fascinating and at the same time deeply psychological Polish spy detective! However, there is no special espionage in it at first, since the captain of the Polish militia Pavel and his comrades initially investigate the case of the murder of a seemingly respectable and lonely cashier of a semi-secret electronic factory (like the Michurinsky Progress, on which my mother worked in the same years, so the topic is close and understandable to me). For attentive, but not familiar with the synopsis (at the time of writing this review it is not on this page - again our "hosts" from Kinopoisk lag behind the famous movie sites!) the audience here rang the first bell... Well, then everything according to the rules of the genre: “thread” brings police officers to the “tangle”, and even what, with knots tied during the war.
As I found out, the film is based on very real events (the discovery of a West German spy network), although they have undergone considerable "artistic processing" (largely for understandable reasons of secrecy), about the same as in our "Dead Season", released at the same time. I remember a couple of close films, also Polish. On the subject and intrigue of our picture "like" "Two gentlemen N" (1961), and on drama and psychologism - "Mysterious Passenger" (1959), on which I wrote a review full of delight. So, as they say, I highly recommend watching.
The only regret is that the online version of the film is posted (yet?) with subtitles, which seriously distracts from the assessment of directorial, camera work and, of course, from acting. But even in such unfavorable conditions, I enjoyed the first, second and third dishes. It could not be otherwise: at the end of the 50s - 60s, the peak flowering of Polish cinema came (remember Wajda's films, film adaptations of Senkiewicz's novels, even the classics of television series like "The Bet is Bigger than Life"!), which brought him recognition and respect from viewers and filmmakers around the world (especially when "socialist" Poles did not look into the mouth of the "older brother" under the Warsaw Pact and COMECON, that is the USSR).
No, of course, as in any other, even ingenious cinema, there are its slacks and flaws (absolutely ingenious film only God can, and he has long removed it under the title "Your Life"...). For example, I was greatly fascinated by the scene of the shootout of the captain with the escaped suspect in the shops of the same defense plant - there were no workers, no guards (!), or people at all. I'm sorry, it doesn't happen! Unless in the mass of Hollywood action movies (much later, like “Terminators”), where “shooters” traditionally occur in various hot and cold, but for some reason empty “production rooms”. In principle, it is clear: “emptiness” wanted to strengthen the drama of the “duel”, but the realities of life should not be neglected.
In all other respects – the highest praise!
8 out of 10