The Shop on Main Street [VHS]

The Shop on Main Street [VHS]
by Elmar Klos, J?n Kad?r

The Shop on Main Street [VHS]

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Product details

Actor: Ad?m Matejka, Hana Slivkov?, Ida Kaminska, Jozef Kr?ner, Martin Holl?
Director: Elmar Klos, J?n Kad?r
Cinematographer: Vladim?r Novotn?
Writer: Elmar Klos
Writer: J?n Kad?r
Producer: Jarom?r Luk?s
Producer: Milos Broz
Writer: Ladislav Grosman
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: German (Original Language); Slovak (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, NTSC, Original recording reissued, Subtitled
Running Time: 128 minutes
Release Date: 2000-03-21
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Homevision
Studio: Homevision

VHS Movie Reviews of The Shop on Main Street [VHS]

Movie Review: A moving and complex relationship during a scary time
Summary: 5 Stars

If you don't know much about this movie, please realize that it is not a frightening Jewish holocaust film. Although set in World War II, the movie is about a relationship between an elderly shopkeeper and the Slovakian carpenter Anton "Tono" Brtko who lives with his nagging wife. Tono. is given the assignment of Arayan, the regulation of taking over the business while Jews are sent away to labor camps. He meets Mrs. Lautmann, an elderly lady, sometimes confused and/or deaf, who owns a button shop. The relationship these two display is often endearing and yet complex.

Shop on Main Street is a two hour black and white film, and received an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1965. The superb performance by Ida Kaminska (Mrs. Lautmann) was nominated for the Oscar's Best Actress Award.

Some may claim the translations are not done well, but that is understandable. It is said that we lose about 20 percent of translations in foreign film. However, you need to keep your trigger finger on the subtitles as especially during the first hour, the titles rush by. During the first hour, the viewer establishes a bond with Tono, feeling for a strong like for him, his attention to the elderly lady, but understandably, there is a change to his personality that we have to respect.

The acting by everyone was superb, especially with Tono, who endures an event that confuses his relationship and bond with the old lady. We read his pain, clearly displayed all over his troubled face. All the characters had meaningful roles. What is most profound is the entire setting of a Czech town and people contently mulling around. One can easily become absorbed into that historic setting.

For the longest time, I had meant to see this, and I was a little reluctant about the Halocaust aspect, and didn't want to see that horror, but as I said, it is about a wonderful relationship between a man and an elderly woman. It is engaging and fun, sad and tense, real and dreamlike. Unfortunately, there are no commentaries in the DVD. Criterion would have done that well, but it falls short here. Rizzo

Movie Review: If you're Slovak, you want to see this film!!
Summary: 5 Stars

If your parents or grandparents emigrated to the USA from Czechoslovakia, you will want to see this movie. It gives you a good picture of life in a small slovak village. Although the theme is about treatment of the Jewish population during the Nazi Occupation, the film gives you a good picture of how our Slovak ancestors lived their lives in the 1940's.

Movie Review: A Magnificent Film in Every Way
Summary: 5 Stars

This film, in my opinion, is one of the finest films ever made. The acting is beyond magnificent, and the filming and sound effects are wonderful. This is one of the best examples of a film that is understated, yet so moving and powerful. It treats the tragedy of the holocaust from a real life scenario, and is touching and compassionate in its portrayal of the main characters of the film.

The review, placed on the back of the DVD leaves much to be desired. It is ridiculously simplistic and inaccurate. It portrays Tono (the Aryan supervisor of the elderly Jewish woman's shop in the film) as being merely cowardly and complicit. I found the DVD's review to be callously written and ignorant.

Movie Review: Tour de Force ...
Summary: 5 Stars

Antonin (the wonderful Jozef Kroner) is a willingly lazy carpenter who is leading a simple life in a small Czechoslovakia town. His wife is an ill tempered and dominating lady who is perpetually disdainful of her husband. She dreams of a better life and constantly compares Antonin to his brother-in-law who is a Nazi officer in the city.
One fine day, at a small family gathering and whilst miserably drunk, Antonin's brother-in-law hands him the "Aryan" ownership papers for a button shop on the main street that is being run by an elderly and near-deaf Jewish lady, Mrs. Lautman.
Antonin is a reluctant owner and is easily outmaneuvered and outsmarted by Mrs. Lautman. Antonin eases into his ownership position by offering to help Mrs. Lautman in her day-to-day shop chores. At home, he spins a dominating owner story and is pestered by his greedy wife to search for a hidden cache of money & gold. Days go by and an unusual bond develops between Antonin & Mrs. Lautman. She treats him to some delectable homemade food and he helps her run her shop and paint her aging furniture whilst maintaining the veneer of being an owner.
However, the holocaust looms large over the small city and the local Nazis are listing the Jews and sending them off to labor camps. Antonin dreads that Mrs. Lautman's name will be on the list of evacuees and she'll be condemned to a labor camp any day. He and a friend decide to hide Mrs. Lautman, but fear for the prospects of her being caught later. Antonin is clearly worried, but is unable to hatch a clear plan for Mrs. Lautman and is confused about keeping her in hiding or having her leave with fellow Jews. In his inept desperation and utter paranoia (seeing some Nazi officers closing in on the shop) he pushes Mrs. Lautman into a closet. The officers simply walk by the shop and the relieved Antonin rushes back to the closet to find a motionless and dead figure of Mrs. Lautamn. In his desperation he pushes her too hard and she falls to her death. Antonin is devastated and commits suicide. But, before hanging himself he lets his ever faithful dog out of the shop.
The story is simple, but very hard hitting. Antonin's character is very innocent, kind and human. He is emotionally vulnerable and unable to handle the dark circumstances that the holocaust brought upon common people. The premise behind the eviction of Jews baffles him and leads to his own death.
This is one of the best movies I've seen. I sat gazing at the credits and the blank screen long after the movie was over. Supreme acting by Jozef Kr?ner.

Movie Review: amazing movie!
Summary: 5 Stars

great movie! unbelievable acting, and cinematography! i don't understand why more people haven't heard of this movie!

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Summary of The Shop on Main Street [VHS]

The first Czechoslovakian film to win an Academy Awardtmtranslates the horrors of the Nazi Occupation into the simplest of human terms. J?n Kad?r and Elmar Klos combine pathos with humor to tell the heart-breaking story of the friendship that develops be

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