Piekna nieznajoma (1993) User Reviews

Spy mystery on a train

[Galicius · 7/10 · 26 November 2010]

This film starts off awfully. I couldn't fathom 1916 czarist officers partying and all speaking Polish. It was like watching a Hollywood movie with actors playing foreigners speaking with an English accent for the effect, as is often the case with Hollywood films about foreigners. There is no substitute for the original language. Then the film got interesting about 20-30 minutes into it as the story unwound with the appearance of the beautiful stranger. It's a spy mystery on a train but the twists are such (for someone unacquainted with this genre) that even though you think you know what is happening you are surprised again, and so on to the end.

You may need to press "Subtitles" button on your DVD pilot to see the titles.

Russian Intrigue

[steve-perlowski · 8/10 · 25 May 2020]

This is really a decent film: spies, handsome protagonists, intrigue on a Russian train (during Russia's involvement in WW I) prior to the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. Originally I rented the film because I, mistakenly, thought it was based on some obscure work by Leo Tolstoy. Had I read the credits more closely I would have noticed that it was based on a novel by Aleksei Tolstoy, who was, apparently, unrelated to the great Russian novelist. Be that as it may, I am glad that I had the opportunity to see it, and I would encourage viewers to use the subtitle button on their remote to get the English subtitles, since the setup menu has caused some difficulties.