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Polish feature films from the interwar period in reviews

Summary/Abstract: "Polski film fabularny 1918-1939. Recenzje" ["Polish Feature Films 1918-1939. Reviews"] (2012), an anthology prepared by Barbara Lena Gierszewska, consists of 300 reviews of 200 Polish films shown in cinemas in the interwar period. Despite the ongoing digitalisation of archival material and expanding access to library resources, this kind of work is invaluable as an aid in the study of the history of Polish cinema. The selection allows one to examine not only the development of Polish film art, but above all the history of its reception. The book is also a story of the origins of Polish film criticism, which in the interwar period reached a very high level, and the reviews were written by such notables as Karol Irzykowski, Antoni Słonimski, Anatol Stern, and Marian Hemar. Among the reviews collected in the anthology of great value is the variety of opinions and polemics presented on such films as "Tajemnica przystanku tramwajowego" ("The Mystery of the Streetcar Stop"), or "Pan Tadeusz". The book, unfortunately, does not contain an extensive commentary, which could help readers outside of the film studies circle. Certainly including in the anthology texts with more in depth commentary could reach a group of readers interested in the history of the Second Republic, while the anthology could become a vehicle for imaginary trips to the cinema theatres of the 1920s and 1930s.

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