This was the first feature film from the young Polish director Andrzej Wajda, who within a few more years would secure his place among the foremost new European film-makers with such films as Ashes and Diamonds and Kanal. All three films have elements in common, apart from all being set against the Polish resistance movement during World War Two. In this case, as in Kanal, underground fighters try to escape Nazi pursuers through the sewers of Warsaw. But the focus is on the coming to manhood of the youth who will become one of the movement's most prominent freedom fighters. Tadeusz Lomnicki sinks himself well into this role, while smaller parts are played by Zbigniew Cybulski, soon to be Poland's premier young star, and embryo director Roman Polanski.

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