Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, provacative Polanski debut
Review: Roman Polanski's debut feature is a taut, economical psychological piece about a couple who pick up a hitch-hiker on their way to their yacht. They intend to spend the day boating, but when it becomes clear that the young hitch-hiker has nothing better to do, they take him along. The husband and the interloper play macho games, trying to outdo each other. Are they trying to impress each other or the wife?The film contains elements and themes that would re-emerge later in Polanski's work; themes of voyeurism and casual violence (Although mostly here the violence is in the dialogue between the two male protagonists.), the theme of how people respond to each other - or themselves - in confined spaces. It's an interesting film because it doesn't spoon-feed its audience. Much of its meaning is slightly submerged. It's European film-making, much more subtle than the not-entirely-dissimilar Dead Calm. Nobody dies, there's no real dramas, but it remains tight, measured and the relationships between the three leads are fascinating and understated. It can also be argued that this movie kick-started the Polish new-wave, and is therefore important in that respect. The Polish authorities were so annoyed by Knife in the Water they besmirched Polanski's name - calling him "amateurish" (He wasn't) - and he left Poland for England, to make the stunning Repulsion. The eight Polanski shorts are an interesting package also. They are mostly from his days as a film student, which shows! A few of them - Murder and Teeth Smile in particular - are not much more than sketches designed to provoke; the first through casual violence, the second through voyeurism. (The themes were clearly there from the very start.) But they are beautifully made. The other shorts have a touch more to them. When Angels Fall is a romantic, sad little thing in which an old woman works as a toilet attendant and remembers her days as a beautiful young girl. The shorts are quite varied, showing Polanski's versatility as a director. All in all, this is an excellent package. And the picture is as crisp as you would expect from Criterion. You need this.
Rating: 
Summary: POLANSKI'S SPOOKY FIRST FEATURE
Review: Roman Polanski's first feature, KNIFE IN THE WATER (Criterion) is an idiosyncratic psychological thriller about a married couple who pick up a hitchhiker and take him sailing. The husband's an ass, the wife's frigid and the hitchhiker's a psycho. Naturally, they toy and taunt each other. Oh, and there's a large knife on board. And what's with Polanski's request that no scan forward or freeze frame function on the disc?
Rating:
Summary: Polanski's Razor-Sharp Debut
Review: Roman Polanski's Knife in the Water is a masterful piece of filmmaking, and surprisingly the director's first full-length feature. To the uninitiated, Polanski is the man who's vision gave a signature edge to films such as Chinatown, The Pianist, and the film adaptation of Rosemary's Baby. A graduate of the state-run (and communist backed) Polish Film School, Polanski made the controversial effort with his first film to not only avoid any state propoganda, but to actually call into question the very topics that nearly every Polish film to date had been required to avoid; namely the interaction between the upper and lower class, or more accurately the "haves" versus the "have nots." The film revolves around a wealthy man, Andrzej, his attractive wife Krystyna, and a young, unnamed hitchiker that Andrzej decides to bring along on the couple's evening out on a boat, more to toy with him than anything else. The first thing that will probably strike most people about the film is the absolute harmony within each frame, especially once the trio pushes out on the lake. Polanski favors very long, complicated still shots in which the characters may move in and out of frame several times, but the angles are always in such a place as to accent, and occasionally even generate, the tension that permeates the entire movie. In addition, the weather in the film is nearly a character in and of itself, and overall the feeling of being on a boat and out in the elements is portrayed so incredibly that you're practically feeling the water splashing on your face. Quite remarkable for a mono, black and white movie shot in the early 60's on a handheld. Of course, the scenery can add to a film, but what really makes it is the characters and their interplay, and rarely is this more important, or executed so well, as in Knife in the Water. While the title of the film seems to evoke something like Cape Fear, there's neither murder nor any real violence to speak of in the film. The knife of the title refers to the knife the young man carries on him, which he explains as being useful in the woods, but "useless on the water." It also acts as a rather obvious phallic symbol, changing hands as one man bests the other in seemingly trivial contests of significance, each trying to outdo the other as the wife essentially throws gasoline on a barely subdued fire. I won't ruin the story or the events within it, but suffice to say that there are very marked levels of subtlety that come across, and the film plays wonderfully with the idea of the "unspoken but obvious". The dialouge is terse and typically very brief; it's what is unsaid that stings the most. As far as the disc set itself, Criterion once again shows everyone why they're the first and last name in home film collection. The movie itself looks absolutely beautiful, with just the right amount of fine film grain, but nothing else. Distortion is nonexistant, and the picture is exactly as sharp as it should be. The sound is only in mono, but everything comes across perfectly clear, a critical point in a film such as this. In addition, we get a very funny and informative interview with Polanski and the film's co-screenwriter Jerzy Skolimowski, which is very much worth the time to watch. Disc 2 is a real treat for film fans, as it contains eight of Polanski's short films made while he was in film school. These rare gems illustrate how Polanski's style was developed, and even display some stylistic tendencies that he dropped before moving on to feature films. These will be more interesting to those studying film than anyone else, but the fact that they are included at all is a very nice addition indeed, and Criterion certaintly deserves a good number of brownie points for it. In the end, this is a fascinating film delivered in a fantastic package that every film buff should have a copy of. Fantastic stuff all around.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: Superb film and bonus interview with Polanski. Definitely a must for any Polanski fan or film student. Like one other reviewer here, I'm also disappointed not to be able to fast forward to review through the material - esp. as it's the sort of film that's worth analysing shot-by-shot.
Rating:
Summary: Invaluable yet with a technical complaint!
Review: The forward/backward function doesn't work on this edition. You can only jump through the chapters in the "Knife" while on the otherwise brilliantly important Disc 2, with eight early Polanski student and short films, you can't move at all. It's not that these films are ever boring or that you can't watch them repeatedly. But sometimes you just want to skip back or forth to catch up a detail---
Otherwise, add a 28-minute live interview with Jerzy Skolimowski (coscripted + dialogue) and Polanski, this of course should be a definitive edition.
Rating:
Summary: Mermaid Eyes
Review: This brilliant debut by director Roman Polanski has all the elements of his later works; sexual undercurrents, jealousy, physical danger, and dramatic confrontation of the generations. The simple but intelligent script by Jerzy Skolimowski, Jakub Goldberg, and Polanski concerns a couple off for a weekend of sailing, who bring a young hitchhiker into their midst. The tensions that follow grows out of the interplay of characters, which is skillfully manipulated by Polanksi. Received an Academy Award Nomination for best foreign-language film in the year of its release.
Rating:
Summary: Deserving of more publicity
Review: This film isn't among the top 100 in the AFI listing, but it should be. I agree with the previous comments about its potential dis-favor with modern viewers, but as an artistic film this one ranks way up there. The photograpy is superb and in a medium of black and white. The story line is about a wealty husband who thinks very little about his wife's abilities, claiming that she would be nothing without him. The couple picks up a teen on the road on the way to sailing, and the husband begins a competive power struggle with the more sensitive and naive hitch-hiker. The resulting response is a secretive and rebellious affair between the wife and the teen. Nearly all of the film takes place in a cramped sailboad in a lake in Poland. The filming is absolutely beautiful. The overall tone is very relaxing, and at times slow-paced for "modern" action seekers. It has a "retro" sixties feel to it with a solo sax as musical accompliment. This is an intelligent movie for people who really love good photography.
Rating: 
Summary: Great visual story telling
Review: This film should be considered a textbook on how to tell a story through visuals. Though little dialouge in the film, one can understand the characters perfectly and the whole atmosphere of tension is beautifully captured by Polanski. The abscence of a fifth star is because modern audiences might find the film slow for current tastes.
Rating:
Summary: a great film with one major DVD mistake
Review: This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film
"Knife in the Water" released as "Nóz w wodzie" in Poland is Roman Polanski's first major film. It also brought him international attention
It is about a couple who picks up a hitchhiker on their way to a vacation on their boat. The hitchhiker accompanies them on their trip and various problems arise.
The film has some great acting and beautiful scenery of the lake.
However, Roman Polanski and the "scan" feature of the DVD disabled. This is a major problem because if you miss a few seconds, which is common in foreign language films, you have to go back to the beginning of the chapeter. This happened to be several times and it is really annoying. It resulted in me giving fewer stars in my rating.
The special features make up for it a little though.
There is an interview with Roman Polanski as well as production and publicity stills.
Also included are 9 of Roman Polanski's short films.
"Morderstwo" (Murderer) is about a murder.
"Usmiech zebiczny" (Teeth Smile) is about a peeping tom who looks through a bathroom window.
"Rozbijemy zabawe..." (Break Up the Dance) is about a school dance.
"Dwaj ludzie z szafa" (Two Men and a Wardrobe) is about two men who carry a wardrobe to various locations in a seaside town.
"Lampa" (The Lamp) is about a man working in his dollmakers shop
"Gdy spadaja anioly" When Angels Fall is about the unwanted.
"Le Gros et le maigre" (The Fat and the Lean)is about a slave who plays music to entertain his master.
"Ssaki" (Mammals) is about people out in the snow.
This is a must buy for those interested in Polanski's early work.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Film
Review: Truly this is a masterpiece in filmmaking.Polanski did amazing things which haveotherwise been very boring. But this film is also marked by its great camera work. And to the reviewer from arizona, this film was left off the AFI's top 100 list because it was a foreign- language film.
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