Black & white Polish movie set in a rural castle before and during World War II

Movies
1

Genre: Drama, art-film?

Release date: Maybe 1950-1980.

UPDATE

The lone-man-among-many-woman element of the story is not the main focus of the movie, it’s mostly in the second half.
But that’s what they remember.

At the end, the old man lets out a number of inflated balloons from a window of the castle and they might have contained some semen. (Now that I’m relaying it, it sounds more like used condoms but they definitely said “ballons”.)

UPDATE

The castle might have functioned as a hotel of sorts.
The whole movie is set in and around the castle, it doesn’t feature ANY fighting.
The story takes place in the span of a few months, starting in the summer and concluding in September.

A young guy is lying in bed and a maid brings him food.
Eventually she undresses (no visible nudity) and climbs into the bed with him.
A few moments later, the father of the guy opens the door and he’s suprised by what he sees and he promptly leaves.
He later advises his son to lock the door next time. The maid gets fired.

Then the news arrive that the Germans have invaded Poland.
Every man is conscripted into the army but the young guy evades it somehow.
He and another man who is too old to be a soldier, becomes the focus of all the women in the castle.
They’re not the only men around but the story focuses on these two characters.
The remaining female servants and maybe even the female guests (?) eventually want to get laid with the young guy and many do. No actual nudity.

There’s a girl who is in love with the young guy but it’s unrequited.

It’s not:

Eroica (1958).
Gdzie jest generał… (1963).
How I Unleashed World War II (Jak rozpętałem drugą wojnę światową, 1969).
Rzeczpospolita babska (1969).
Zwariowana noc (1969).
Dzień oczyszczenia (1970).
Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále (2006).

Are you sure that it is Polish movie? I did a research by using IMDB and filmpolski.pl , but I didn't find nothing similar. Maybe it is Czechoslovakian movie?

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I wouldn't rule out a Czechoslovakian movie even though the questioner claims that it's Polish. Thanks for looking into it!

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19 Answers

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It contains soft female nudity, but it isn’t connected with Second World War.

Thanks but it can't be The Saragossa Manuscript (1965) because the questioner claims to distinctly remember the men being conscripted into the Polish army due to the German invasion at the beginning of WW2.

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3

So maybe “Misja specjalna”. I didn’t watch, but it is from 1988 and it is some similar. Naked scenes (even “soft”) were very rare in old Polish movies.

Thank you but Misja specjalna (1987) is not it. The one I'm looking for is black & white, has no fight scenes and is set at the beginning of WW2. "Naked scenes (even “soft”) were very rare in old Polish movies." There is no nudity in the movie I'm looking for, the sex is just implied.

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It is strange situation, because I didn't find here too. https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?title_type=feature,tv_movie,tv_miniseries&release_date=1945-01-01,2023-12-31&genres=romance,war,!documentary,!short&colors=black_and_white&countries=PL

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4

Maybe ?

5

A long shot, but maybe?

6

Other wild guess:

I checked Samson (1961), Zosya (1967) and A Matter of Resistance (1966) and the latter felt the closest with the chateau but it doesn't have the silly, I-get-laid-with-everyone angle. Thank you for your time investment, it gives me a bit of an incentive to keep looking.

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7

“Zamek w Szwecji” (1993) ?

Thanks but from what I've read using Google Translate, this is not set at a time of war.

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8
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And my last idea:

Thank you but Don Gabriel (1966) and Giuseppe w Warszawie (1964) aren't it.

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10

Female user Pola from Polish FB group gave me a title - “Pożegnania” (1958) - English title “Lydia Ate the Apple”:

Thank you but this isn't it either.

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It is very strange situation. I did exact research and nothing... https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?num_votes=10,6000&genres=!documentary,!short&colors=black_and_white&country_of_origin=PL&sort=num_votes,desc

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No, we can rule out Border Street, All Soul's Day and Dancing w kwaterze Hitlera too. I wouldn't be suprised if it wasn't actually Polish because I've looked at IMDb lists that were about as inclusive as I could make them ("war" in the plot, b & w and Poland as the country of origin) and found nothing that would fit.

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It is level hard. Somebody asked in Forum Polskiego Kina in 2018. http://forum.polskiekino.com.pl/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=642&view=previous

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That was me. It's a question from 2018.

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14

And maybe “Castle Keep” (1969) ?

Nope. I appreciate the help but it's not Castle Keep.

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15

Next wild guess:

I appreciate it but this is a silent movie.

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16

My next desperate attempt to find :smiley:

dbdumonteil wrote in Mar 2, 2008:

“Menaces” deals with the months before WW2 in a hotel:the fear of the impending war never leaves the guests of an hotel in Paris.The Munich agreement, Poland invasion,Danzig ,and the calling up provide a good background.Erich Von Stroheim is the stand out;wearing a mask which covers the half of his face ,he “represents” peace and war .He has the best lines of the dialog"Now it’s time to show my “War side” ,he says,removing his mask.He portrays an Austrian doctor who was wounded in WW1 and he knows that if war breaks out again,he will become the enemy .His character will remind the viewer of his part in “Les Disparus de Saint-Agil” by Christian-Jaque where he played a German teacher,kept in the background by his colleagues .It’s extraordinary that almost all of Stroheim’s French parts of the thirties and the forties -with few exceptions such as “La Grande Illusion” - were demeaning ones,predating that of “Sunset boulevard” .(see also “La Foire Aux Chimères” and “Portrait D’un Assassin”)"

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It's not Menace... or Hotel Sahara. If I was you, I would stop looking for it. It should have come up by now, unless there is nothing about it online or if the questioner's memories of the film are too distorted.

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Thank you for the perseverance and the continued interest! None of these are it however. The questioner says they are sure about the movie starting in 1939, the beginning of WW2. New details in the question.

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21

Thank you very much, I've told the questioner about these new suggestions!

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Is it found? I'm interested, because I'm almost sure that it isn't Polish movie.

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