Janusz Morgenstern

Directing

Janusz Morgenstern

Born — Died

1922-11-16 — 2011-09-06

Place of birth

Mikulińce, obwód tarnopolski, Polska (obecnie Ukraina)

Known for

Directing

Credits

41 titles

Janusz "Kuba" Morgenstern was a Polish film director and producer. Janusz Morgenstern was born in 1922 to a Jewish family in the town of Mikulińce, Poland (now Mykulyntsi, Ukraine), to Dawid Morgenstern and Estera (née Druks). He debuted as a director with the film Goodbye, Till Tomorrow (1960). His other films include Jowita (1967), We Have to Kill this Love (1972), W-Hour (1979), Lesser of Two Evils (2009). TV series directed by Morgenstern included: Stake Larger than Life (1967–1968), Columbuses (1970) and Polish Roads (1976).

Known for

Lesser Evil poster
5.2

There is a writer who in the late 1970s managed to publish a poem in the monthly "Nowy Wyraz". It was enough to become a self-confessed writer whose name began to appear in the state media. The writer takes full advantage of his privileges - he flirts with power, sympathizes with the opposition, and collapses his studies at the same time. He is saved from going to the army by an exalted essayist whose sister is the head of the psychiatric hospital in Tworki. In a psychiatric institution, a writer meets a schizophrenic who writes a novel. After his suicide, the protagonist takes over the draft, which he publishes outside of censorship under his name, thanks to which he gains fame, fame and money. August '80 breaks out....

Lesser Evil

2009

The Collector poster
6.5

Lucjan Bohme is a ruthless debt collector working in a post-industrial Silesian town. In the land of unemployment and misery, he's got a lot of work and no mercy at all. Until something happens.

The Collector

2005

Legend of the White Horse poster
3.9

A satire of Cold war politics, where Red bureaucrats meet U.S. corporate greed - and a witch and a dragon.

Legend of the White Horse

1987

Boys Don't Cry poster
7.4

A young aspiring violinist unwittingly becomes involved with a criminal gang.

Boys Don't Cry

2000

Entanglement poster
5.9

A member of a therapy group is found dead. A prosecutor and a police officer try to solve the mystery of his death.

Entanglement

2011

The Revenge poster
5.7

A winter day at a Polish castle, half owned by a fatalistic notary and half by a volcanic old soldier's niece. The old soldier, Cupbearer, and the notary are sworn enemies, which may doom the love between the niece, Klara, and the notary's son, Waclaw. On this day, the tongue-tied Cupbearer asks a braggart courtier, Papkin, to sue on his behalf for the hand of the widow Hanna. Papkin succeeds and

The Revenge

2002

Film credits

1990s · 1 titles

Behind the camera

Lesser Evil poster
5.2

There is a writer who in the late 1970s managed to publish a poem in the monthly "Nowy Wyraz". It was enough to become a self-confessed writer whose name began to appear in the state media. The writer takes full advantage of his privileges - he flirts with power, sympathizes with the opposition, and collapses his studies at the same time. He is saved from going to the army by an exalted essayist whose sister is the head of the psychiatric hospital in Tworki. In a psychiatric institution, a writer meets a schizophrenic who writes a novel. After his suicide, the protagonist takes over the draft, which he publishes outside of censorship under his name, thanks to which he gains fame, fame and money. August '80 breaks out....

Lesser Evil

2009

Lesser Evil poster
5.2

There is a writer who in the late 1970s managed to publish a poem in the monthly "Nowy Wyraz". It was enough to become a self-confessed writer whose name began to appear in the state media. The writer takes full advantage of his privileges - he flirts with power, sympathizes with the opposition, and collapses his studies at the same time. He is saved from going to the army by an exalted essayist whose sister is the head of the psychiatric hospital in Tworki. In a psychiatric institution, a writer meets a schizophrenic who writes a novel. After his suicide, the protagonist takes over the draft, which he publishes outside of censorship under his name, thanks to which he gains fame, fame and money. August '80 breaks out....

Lesser Evil

2009

Lesser Evil poster
5.2

There is a writer who in the late 1970s managed to publish a poem in the monthly "Nowy Wyraz". It was enough to become a self-confessed writer whose name began to appear in the state media. The writer takes full advantage of his privileges - he flirts with power, sympathizes with the opposition, and collapses his studies at the same time. He is saved from going to the army by an exalted essayist whose sister is the head of the psychiatric hospital in Tworki. In a psychiatric institution, a writer meets a schizophrenic who writes a novel. After his suicide, the protagonist takes over the draft, which he publishes outside of censorship under his name, thanks to which he gains fame, fame and money. August '80 breaks out....

Lesser Evil

2009

The Collector poster
6.5

Lucjan Bohme is a ruthless debt collector working in a post-industrial Silesian town. In the land of unemployment and misery, he's got a lot of work and no mercy at all. Until something happens.

The Collector

2005

Legend of the White Horse poster
3.9

A satire of Cold war politics, where Red bureaucrats meet U.S. corporate greed - and a witch and a dragon.

Legend of the White Horse

1987

Boys Don't Cry poster
7.4

A young aspiring violinist unwittingly becomes involved with a criminal gang.

Boys Don't Cry

2000

The Revenge poster
5.7

A winter day at a Polish castle, half owned by a fatalistic notary and half by a volcanic old soldier's niece. The old soldier, Cupbearer, and the notary are sworn enemies, which may doom the love between the niece, Klara, and the notary's son, Waclaw. On this day, the tongue-tied Cupbearer asks a braggart courtier, Papkin, to sue on his behalf for the hand of the widow Hanna. Papkin succeeds and

The Revenge

2002

Miss Nobody poster
5.3

A devout Catholic peasant girl is corrupted by two new friends when her family moves to the city. An allegory of traditional Polish values under threat from materialism and decadence in the post-Communist era.

Miss Nobody

1996

Deserter's Gold poster
6.1

"Deserter's Gold", the sequel to the very popular "The Deserters", is a rich war comedy, skipping humorously around the more serious dangers of a war. Deserters Gold takes place during World War II, while the first film happened during WWI. The heroes' mission is to rob a Nazi-run bank in Poland for gold that will buy military supplies for the Polish Underground.

Deserter's Gold

1998

Korczak poster
7.1

The story of Polish pedagogue Janusz Korczak and his dedication to protecting Jewish orphans during the war.

Korczak

1990

The Dark Side of Venus poster
5.4

Ewa is a beautiful, happily married woman. One day she meets a young woman claiming to be in affair with her husband. Ewa, shocked, doesn't know whom to believe any more.

The Dark Side of Venus

1998

Jowita poster
6.8

Marek is a promising athlete having his share of affairs with women. One day at masquerade ball he meets a an enigmatic Jowita and becomes obsessed with her, even when he finds seemingly true love in Agnieszka.

Jowita

1967

Goodbye, Till Tomorrow poster
6.7

Jacek is a handsome, charming young Pole who belongs to a drama company. One day, in the streets of Gdansk, he meets Marguerite, a beautiful, charming French girl. He falls for her but the young lady is whimsical...

Goodbye, Till Tomorrow

1960

To Kill This Love poster
5.8

A dramatization of problems faced by a young couple in 1970's Poland - job uncertainty, conflicts with parents, living together, unfaithfulness.

To Kill This Love

1972

Adam's Two Ribs poster
8.0

An engineer comes home from abroad to his waiting wife. After some time, his second wife, an Italian one, joins him. For a small town, such a triangle will turn out to be unacceptable, especially since the spouses live peacefully under one roof.

Adam's Two Ribs

1964

Femina poster
4.9

The main character is Bogna, a thirty year old woman lost in her surrounding reality and unhappy in her private life. After her husband departs for a foreign scholarship, Bogna learns that her mother died. The trip to her hometown for the funeral becomes a voyage in time, during which she relives the memories of her idyllic childhood.

Femina

1991

Golden Bottom poster
4.0

The film takes place today in a small settlement in Kolyma. A few years ago, the authorities decided that state gold mining was no longer profitable. Those who try to act on their own are persecuted.

Golden Bottom

1995

Stary człowiek i pies poster
5.7

The film presents the story of Robert - an aging, once-recognized artist who is today struggling with his own complexes and vices, and helplessness towards a new reality that ruthlessly throws him to the margins of existence. One day Robert finds himself in a roadside ditch hit by a dog's car. In a reflex of spontaneous compassion, he takes the dog home and begins to look after him.

Stary człowiek i pies

2008

No artwork available
NR

The third of six episode compilations of the TV series released theatrically, featuring episodes 5 and 7.

More Than Life At Stake Part Three

1969

More Than Life At Stake Part One poster
NR

The first of six episode compilations of the TV show released theatrically, featuring episodes 1 and 3. In 1941, Polish soldier Stanisław Kolicki escapes German captivity only to be mistaken for the dashing Abwehr lieutenant Hans Kloss and recruited by the Soviets as their secret agent J-23. Under deep cover behind enemy lines, he feeds crucial intelligence to the Red Army while outwitting suspicions and dueling wits with the formidable SS officer Hermann Brunner.

More Than Life At Stake Part One

1969

No artwork available
NR

The sixth and final episode compilation of the TV series released theatrically, featuring episodes 16 and 17.

More Than Life At Stake Part Six

1969

The Yellow Scarf poster
6.6

The main character - a man who suffers from alcoholism - wants to change his tumultuous life. The day before Christmas Eve he receives a gift from his son - a yellow scarf. A gift is a kind of talisman he receives from loved ones, and every time he loses it. When after another banquet he falls into delirium, his ex-wife and secretary bring him to his mother. She helps him to sober up and arranges holiday celebration for two of them. She gives her son another yellow scarf, in belief that it will help him break the pernicious habit.

The Yellow Scarf

2000

Coyote's Morning poster
6.7

Kuba, a young cartoon artist who works as a waiter at sophisticated parties, falls in love with beautiful Noemi and accidentally gets involved in gangster affairs

Coyote's Morning

2001

Life Again poster
5.7

Three idealists - a communist secretary, a former RAF pilot and a female political activist - need to face the hardships and accusations of postwar Stalinist years before being finally rehabilitated.

Life Again

1965

No artwork available
NR

The fourth of six episode compilations of the TV series, featuring episodes 8 and 9.

More Than Life At Stake Part Four

1969

Then There Will Be Silence poster
5.0

Two Polish Army soldiers, both from different political backgrounds clash while fighting the Germans.

Then There Will Be Silence

1966

Then There Will Be Silence poster
5.0

Two Polish Army soldiers, both from different political backgrounds clash while fighting the Germans.

Then There Will Be Silence

1966

No artwork available
5.7

A boy paralyzed as a child grows into an athletic man. The colossal strength that allowed him to become a fit man will prove to be his undoing. Convicted of a murder in a fight, he loses the chance to return to his beloved girl.

Colossus

1993

The Smaller Sky poster
7.0

A story of a dropout out of a succesful career and a loving family. He goes to a local railroad station, then checks into a hotel and refuses to leave despite visits by a psychiatrist and his own son. He watches people daily at the station. A tv reporter is trying to come up with a story which would help him to save his job. He likes to chase women and the dropout's wife is one of his targets. He gets interested in the story of her husband and tries to make a program about mysterious individual. Once the tv crew arrives to the scene, the subject tries to hide and ends up on the roof of the station, where he catches a glimpse of sunshine - the "smaller sky" - before stepping onto a glass roof and falling to his death.

The Smaller Sky

1981

The Smaller Sky poster
7.0

A story of a dropout out of a succesful career and a loving family. He goes to a local railroad station, then checks into a hotel and refuses to leave despite visits by a psychiatrist and his own son. He watches people daily at the station. A tv reporter is trying to come up with a story which would help him to save his job. He likes to chase women and the dropout's wife is one of his targets. He gets interested in the story of her husband and tries to make a program about mysterious individual. Once the tv crew arrives to the scene, the subject tries to hide and ends up on the roof of the station, where he catches a glimpse of sunshine - the "smaller sky" - before stepping onto a glass roof and falling to his death.

The Smaller Sky

1981

No artwork available
6.0

On August 1, 1944, Warsaw holds its breath as Home Army couriers spread word that “W-hour” is at 17:00. A platoon under “Czarny” must assault German barracks without the expected backup—an order they follow at the risk of collective suicide.

Godzina W

1979

Opening Tomorrow poster
7.7

A budding playwright is thrilled to find out that his play will be performed at a prestigious theater, but a series of problems pile up, along with the general feeling that opening night will be disastrous.

Opening Tomorrow

1962

Opening Tomorrow poster
7.7

A budding playwright is thrilled to find out that his play will be performed at a prestigious theater, but a series of problems pile up, along with the general feeling that opening night will be disastrous.

Opening Tomorrow

1962

Ambulance poster
6.5

In this haunting short fiction film, a group of Jewish children and their teacher are herded into an ambulance by Nazis; the vehicle, ordinarily representing comfort and safety, becomes the group’s death chamber. Morgenstern’s presentation of the incident serves as a metaphor for the horror of the Holocaust, and provides a powerful trigger for discussion of the disturbing issues raised by the film. The figure of the children's’ teacher specifically parallels Janusz Korcak (1879-1942), a famous Jewish educator who ran an orphanage in the Warsaw ghetto and died with his young charges at Treblinka.

Ambulance

1961

No artwork available
10.0

A young engineer tries to get a card secret from a dying countess that allows him to make a fortune.

Dama pikowa

1972

No artwork available
10.0

A young engineer tries to get a card secret from a dying countess that allows him to make a fortune.

Dama pikowa

1972