Editing The Cruise (1970 film)

{{Infobox film
| name           = Rejs
| image          = Rejs dvd.JPG

| caption        = DVD cover of a recent Polish movie edition
| director       = [[Marek Piwowski]]
| writer         = [[Andrzej Barszczyński]]<br>[[Janusz Głowacki]]<br>Jerzy Karaszkiewicz<br>Marek Piwowski
| starring       = [[Stanisław Tym]]<br>[[Zdzisław Maklakiewicz]]<br>[[Jan Himilsbach]]
| music          = [[Wojciech Kilar]]
| cinematography = Andrzej Barszczynski<br>Marek Nowicki
| editing        = Lidia Pacewicz
| released       = {{Film date|1970}}
| runtime        = 65
| country        = Poland
| language       = Polish
}}

'''''Rejs''''', known in English as '''''The Cruise''''' (or ''The Trip Down the River''), is a Polish [[comedy]] film released in 1970, directed by [[Marek Piwowski]] who also co-wrote the [[screenplay]] with [[Andrzej Barszczyński]], [[Janusz Głowacki]] and Jerzy Karaszkiewicz. The score was composed by [[Wojciech Kilar]].

''Rejs'' is considered as a masterpiece by many and as the earliest [[cult film]] in [[Cinema of Poland|Polish cinema]]. Shot in a quasi-documentary style, with a cast featuring not more than two or three professional actors, the absurd plot parodies life in the [[People's Republic of Poland]], reducing a weekend river cruise to a hilarious parody of the entire [[communist]] system.

[[Image:Screenshot rejs.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Screenshot from the movie]]

==Plot==
A stowaway ([[Stanisław Tym]]) sneaks aboard a ship departing on a cruise down the [[Vistula]] River. The captain takes him for a [[PZPR|Communist Party]] cultural coordinator and the intruder gladly adapts to his new role, immediately setting to work at manipulating the passengers and crew into silly and vaguely humiliating games. Before long, Tym has got everyone under his thumb and created his own comedic dictatorship. A memorable performance was given by [[Jan Himilsbach]], an amateur actor who formerly carved tombstones.

== Production ==
The film was directed in such a way that the characters' behaviors and expressions sound natural and the film resembles a documentary shot with a hidden camera. The characters were played by many non-actors or theater actors who had not acted in films before, and some scenes were improvised. Because of the low budget, the film was shot on black-and-white film stock with a single camera. The only lens the crew had for close-ups malfunctioned, so zooming was done by having the characters move closer to the camera. The non-professional actors didn't know how to move, so the cameraman drew them to the camera by pulling on a string tied to their leg. The film crew called this technique "Turkish zoom".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nto.pl/jak-plynal-rejs/ar/3962899|title=Jak płynął "Rejs" &#124; Nowa Trybuna Opolska}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Cinema of Poland]]
*[[List of Polish language films]]
*[[River cruise]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20020928084126/http://www.rejs.art.pl/ Official website] ''(Polish)''
* [http://rejs.filmweb.pl/Rejs,%281970%29,plakaty,FilmPosters,id=751 Poster gallery]
* {{IMDb title|id=0066289|title=Rejs}}
* [https://culture.pl/en/work/the-cruise-marek-piwowski Rejs] at Culture.pl
* [http://repozytorium.fn.org.pl/?q=en/node/9577 Rejs] at The National Film Archive's Digital Repository

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruise}}
[[Category:1970s Polish-language films]]
[[Category:Polish comedy films]]
[[Category:1970 films]]
[[Category:1970 comedy films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Wojciech Kilar]]
[[Category:Films set on cruise ships]]
[[Category:Films set in Poland]]


{{1970s-comedy-film-stub}}
{{Poland-film-stub}}