- Country: East Germany, Poland
- Genres: Drama
- Release: 1960-05-16
- Director: Wanda Jakubowska
- Writers: Stanislawa Fleszarowa-Muskat , Wanda Jakubowska , Hans Julius Wille
- Language: Polish | German | French
- Stars: Zofia Slaboszowska , Horst Drinda , Erich Franz , Charlotte Küter , Emil Karewicz , Ilona Mikke , Albert Hetterle , Zofia Mrozowska , Horst Friedrich , Mathilde Danegger
- Runtime: 107 min
- Awards: N/A
- AKA: Spotkania w mroku , Encounters in the Dark , Nach jenen Jahren , Begegnung im Zwielicht , Kiábrándulás (Hungary) , Spotkania w mroku (Poland)
- Plot: 'Encounters in the Dark' is an East German-Polish co-production with dialogue largely in German. It begins like a contemporaneous Ross Hunter glossy with acclaimed pianist Magdalena Novak due to make her first visit to Germany since she had been put to work during the war as a slave labourer in a shoe factory near Auschwitz, to which the film then flashes back.Zofia Slaboszowska brings elegant presence to the role of Magdalena as she clicks about in high heels in her chic fifties suits (both in her wartime & present day scenes). Apart from one scene worthy of Sirk when handsome factory owner Ernst Steinlieb shows his appreciation of Magdalena's prowess at the keys by presenting her with a rose, much of what follows is diffuse and uninvolving; and it's only when it returns to the present day that the film takes a memorable turn in a contrived but lively finale pointing the finger at postwar West Germany's continued failure to square with its Nazi past.Another detail that sets 'Encounters in the Past' apart from anything Ross Hunter would have made is the modern music by Stanislaw Skrowaczewski that Magdalena chooses to play whenever seated at a piano. Hunter would have had her play Chopin.
- IMDB:tt0054336
Spotkania w mroku Cast · · · ALL
Wanda Jakubowska
Director
Zofia Slaboszowska
Magdalena Novak
Horst Drinda
Ernst Steinlieb
Erich Franz
Wenk
Emil Karewicz
Dominik
Albert Hetterle
Dr. Häußler
Zofia Mrozowska
Mrs. Häußler
Horst Friedrich
Fidus
Mathilde Danegger
Lieschen
Jürgen Frohriep
Herwart Grosse
Hilmar Baumann
2nd accused
Maria Kaniewska
Hochmeier
Florian Wolny
Thiel
Maciej Damiecki
Hitlerjugend Member
Henryk Hunko
Camp Prisoner
Anna Jaraczówna
Mieczyslaw Pawlikowski
Bauer
Bogdan Baer
Fritzsch (uncredited)
Halina Buyno-Loza
Worker (uncredited)
Adolf Chronicki
SS Soldier (uncredited)
Jerzy Dobrowolski
Man by Magdalena's Car (uncredited)
Janusz Klosinski
German watching the Poles at the Bar (uncredited)
Andrzej May
Shot Pilot (uncredited)
Irena Netto
Jerzy Nowak
Worker (uncredited)