Jakub Goldberg

Dwaj Ludzie z Szafy (Two Men and a Wardrobe) is the first short film by Roman Polanski to be screened publicly. It won festival acclaim in Oberhausen, Brussels, and San Francisco. Two men emerge from the sea carrying a large wooden wardrobe. They carry it throughout the city, but they get kicked out of a restaurant and a hotel. Eventually they get beat up by thugs who smash the mirror on the wardrobe. The two men return to the sea with their wardrobe. Theorists believe this film is about the nonconformist in society and the consequences of carrying a burden. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Roman Polanski made Gdy Spadaja Anioly ( When Angels Fall) as his final project at the State Film School in Lodz, Poland. This short film follows concerns an old woman who works as a bathroom attendant. Filmed in black-and-white, she is shown performing her work duties and sitting in a chair in a grimy men's lavatory. She stares at the various fixtures in the bathroom, daydreaming about her past.. Shown in color, her flashbacks involve a young romance, her infant child, and memories from the war. Starring Jakub Goldberg and Henryk Kluba, both of whom Polanski had previously cast for his short film Two Men and a Wardrobe. Also starring Polanski's then-wife Barbara Kwiatkowska-Lass. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Noz w Wodzie was not only Polanski's first feature-length film, but it also marked the first screen appearance of Polish actor Zygmunt Malanowicz who played a young student. In fact, the only experienced thespian in the featured trio is Leon Niemczyk as Andrzej, the self-important, somewhat arrogant husband of Kataryna. Andrzej and Kataryna pick up the student as he is hitchhiking and invite him to join them on their boat for an outing. As the threesome head out to open water, the husband and the student start a kind of jealous interaction that keeps Kataryna mildly amused. What began as a macho sparring ends up in a fight that has the student falling overboard and the husband swimming to shore for help. But appearances are deceiving, as the husband will soon discover. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide