Czechoslovakia, 1966
Length / Feature: 80 minutes
Length / Special features: 70 minutes
1.0 Mono LPCM (48k/24-bit)
Black and white
Original aspect ratio:
2:35:1
Language: Czech, German
Subtitles: English
Blu-Ray: BD50 / 1080p
Region ABC (Region Free)
Blu-Ray RRP: £19.99
Release Date: 28 March 2022
Second Run BD052
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In the last days of the World War Two, a young Czech widow whose husband has been executed by Nazi occupiers is forced to transport two German soldiers to the Austrian border. As they journey through a seemingly endless forest, a barbed tale of hatred, revenge and unexpected sympathies unfolds.
Banned by the Czech authorities for challenging conventional depictions of villainous Nazis and honourable Czechs, Karel Kachyňa’s powerful and often harrowing film explores the fine line between justice and vengeance – and it remained unseen for over twenty years. Gripping and intensely atmospheric, Coach to Vienna is a fearless moral examination of the complexities of war.
Coach to Vienna is presented from a glorious new 4K restoration and makes its world premiere on Blu-ray.
Our edition also contains Karel Kachyňa’s rediscovered 1949 graduation film, It's Not Always Cloudy (Není stále zamračeno), a feature-length, semi-documentary co-directed by Vojtěch Jasný; plus a new Projection Booth audio commentary with film historians Mike White, Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger - and a booklet featuring a new essay by author and Czechoslovak cinema specialist Jonathan Owen.
• Coach to Vienna (Kočár do Vídně, 1966) presented from an HD transfer of the new 4K restoration by the Czech National Film Archive, Prague.
• It's Not Always Cloudy (Není stále zamračeno, 1949): Karel Kachyňa’s rediscovered feature-length semi-documentary graduation film, co-directed by Vojtěch Jasný.
• A new Projection Booth audio commentary with film historians Mike White, Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger.
• 20-page booklet featuring a new essay on the film by author and Czechoslovak cinema specialist Jonathan Owen.
• Trailer.
• Image gallery - a collection of rare Hungarian lobby cards.
• New and improved English subtitle translation.
• Region free Blu-ray (A/B/C).
• World premiere on Blu-ray.
Directed by Karel Kachyňa
Screenplay - Jan Procházka, Karel Kachyňa
Cinematography - Josef Illík
Editor - Miroslav Hájek
Production Design - Leoš Karen
Music - Jan Novák
Costume Design - Ester Krumbachová
Production Manager - Jaroslav Kučera
Main cast
Iva Janžurová – The woman (Krista)
Jaromír Hanzlík - Hans
Luděk Munzar - Günther
Karel Kachyňa's renowned film The Ear
and many other gems of Czechoslovak cinema
are also availble on Second Run
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“A road movie unlike any other, Karel Kachyňa’s Coach to Vienna is also a thriller and an absolutely devastating indictment of the Czech nation after the Second World War... it may be one of the best and most important works of art the country has ever produced” Celluloid Paradiso
“It is without a doubt, one of the essential films of the Czech New Wave” Bonjour Tristesse
“A film of classical dimensions... A simple humanist theme
and a non-propagandist approach to war”
Peter Hames, Kinoeye
“This timeless story exploring the redistribution of guilt and revenge in a period of upheaval” Glasgow West End
“A tense revenge tale gradually morphs into a harrowing human drama about the extremes to which war drives ordinary people” Film at Lincoln Center
“A great sense of dank and feral atmosphere... It's the ending that delivers the real kick in the teeth” Time Out
