Tajemnica panny Brinx Review: A 1930s Polish Mystery with Great Hats

If you have a Saturday afternoon with nothing to do and you don't mind reading subtitles, give this one a shot. It is perfect for people who like old-fashioned mysteries where everyone looks like they belong on a vintage postcard.

If you want something fast and modern with lots of explosions, you will probably turn it off after ten minutes. It’s definitely not that kind of movie.

The movie starts with a lot of people talking in a way that feels very important. You can tell it’s a mystery because the music gets all jittery whenever someone looks at a door or holds a letter.

Lena Zelichowska plays the lead and she has this very specific way of tilting her head. She looks like she’s trying to hear a secret from across the room even when she is the one talking.

The plot is about a missing girl and some stolen stuff, but I’ll be honest, I stopped caring about the 'why' pretty fast. I was more interested in the way Aleksander Zabczynski walked into every scene.

He has this energy where he knows he’s the most handsome guy in Poland. It’s almost funny how much the camera loves him; he basically glows whenever he stands near a window.

There is a scene in a hallway that goes on for way too long. Two characters just stare at each other and you think they’re gonna say something, but they just... don't.

It reminds me a bit of The Crimson Circle but without the same level of creepy atmosphere. It’s much more polite and well-dressed.

Kazimierz Junosza-Stepowski is also in this, and he is always a treat to watch. He has this deep, gravelly presence that makes the other actors look like children playing dress-up.

The whole movie feels like a stage play that someone decided to film at the last minute. Some of the sets look like they might fall over if someone sneezes too hard near the wallpaper.

I noticed one extra in the background of the party scene who just keeps drinking from the same empty glass. They do it like four times and it becomes the only thing I could look at.

It’s these little things that make me love old movies like this. They aren't perfect, and they don't try to be polished like a modern blockbuster.

If you’ve seen The Crimson Skull, you know how these old genre movies can be a bit clunky. This one is no different, but it has a certain European charm.

The ending is a bit of a rush. It’s like they realized they only had five minutes of film left and had to explain everything really fast before the lights went out.

I think the writers, like Jan Fethke, were just having a bit of fun with the genre. It doesn't feel like they were trying to change the world or make a profound statement.

The sound quality is a bit scratchy, which is expected for 1936. Sometimes the dialogue sounds like it’s coming from the bottom of a very deep well.

But that just adds to the vibe, I guess. It’s like finding an old dusty book in a library that nobody has touched since the war.

You might recognize some of the faces if you've seen other stuff from this era, like Tess of the Storm Country, even though that’s a totally different vibe.

The fashion is the real star here. The hats are huge and the suits are sharper than the actual plot twists.

Things I noticed:

• The phones are absolutely huge and look heavy enough to kill someone.
• Nobody seems to actually do any work at their jobs; they just talk about the mystery.
• The curtains in the background are very distracting in the office scene.
• There is a dog that appears for no reason and then leaves. 🐶

The way they handle the 'mystery' is so funny to me. They act like a missing person is just a minor inconvenience between rounds of drinks.

One guy, I think it was Michal Znicz, has a face that just looks like a crumpled paper bag. He’s great and I wish he was in it more.

The movie has these weird gaps where nothing happens. You just watch a car drive down a road for way too long without any music.

It’s not as grand as something like Cleopatra, obviously. It’s much more contained and small-scale, which I actually liked.

I kept thinking about Madame Butterfly because of how much they focus on the tragic expressions of the women. Everyone is very dramatic.

The lighting is really hit or miss. Sometimes it’s beautiful and moody, and other times it looks like they just turned on every light in the building and hoped for the best.

There’s a bit with a letter that someone is trying to hide. The way they fumble with it is so awkward it almost feels real, like they actually dropped it by mistake.

I wonder if the actors were actually friends in real life. They have this easy way of talking over each other that feels more natural than the script probably was wrote.

Some of the jokes don't really land anymore. Or maybe I just didn't get them because I'm not from 1930s Warsaw.

There's a lot of 'oh, panna Brinx!' and then someone gasps. It happens at least three times in the second half.

I also liked the scenes in the office. The desks are so big they look like they belong in a giant's house, not a normal human's workspace.

If you like Off to Buffalo for that old-school energy, you'll see some of that here too. It’s got that same frantic rhythm at times.

The film gets a bit better once the actual investigation starts. Before that, its just a lot of people being fancy and looking confused at each other.

It's definitely a 'watch once' kind of movie. I don't think I'd need to see it again to get the point, but I'm glad I saw it.

If you've seen Big Money, you know how these comedies can sometimes drag in the middle. This one drags, but the actors keep it alive.

Anyway, it's a decent watch if you're in the right mood for something old. Just don't expect it to make total sense by the time the credits roll. 🕰️

The mystery of the girl is solved, but the mystery of why that one guy kept drinking from an empty glass will haunt me forever.