Kino historyczne w międzywojennej Polsce
Historical Cinema in Interwar Poland

Author(s): Michał Pieńkowski
Subject(s): Cultural history, Modern Age, Recent History (1900 till today), 16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, 19th Century, Pre-WW I & WW I (1900 -1919), Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Present Times (2010 - today), History of Art
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: history; film; interwar period; Renaissance; 19th century
Summary/Abstract: In Polish film production of the interwar years, historical films were scarce. The main reason constituted very high cost of costumes and sets, which, with the notorious lack of funds in our film industry, was a great handicap. Despite these problems, several worthwhile historical films were created. All of them told the history of Poland or were set in Poland of the past eras. We did not produce films set in other parts of the world. The earliest era which our filmmakers reached was the reign of King Sigismund Augustus. The first of these films set in this era was "Pan Twardowski" (dir. Henryk Szaro, 1936) – a screen adaptation of the Polish legend about the Cracow sorcerer. One of the film’s scenes featured Sigismund Augustus. The second is "Barbara Radziwiłłówna" (dir. Józef Lejtes, 1936) – the story of a love affair and a secret wedding between the king and a Vilnius magnate lady. Both were shot with great panache, and both were praised by reviewers, although there was no shortage of criticism regarding the historical fidelity of certain elements, costumes as one example. Another cinematic era was the time of the Swedish invasion of Poland, the so-called Swedish Deluge between 1655–1660, and the heroic defense of the Jasna Góra monastery (Polish sacred place) shown in the film "Prior Kordecki – defender of Częstochowa” (dir. Edward Puchalski, 1934). Two films told the story of Tadeusz Kościuszko – the Polish hero and leader of the uprising in 1794. These were "Kościuszko’s First Love" (dir. Jerzy Orthon, 1929) and "Kościuszko at Racławice" (dir. Józef Lejtes, 1938). Unfortunately, both were not successful. Another six films were set in the 19th century. The output of historical cinema of the interwar years is not very numerous. Many of them were accused of being inconsistent with reality or lacked attention to detail, which, given the very difficult situation of our cinematographic industry and the specific requirements of the market, should not be surprising. Despite the adversity, several films of great value were made, and some of them, such as "Barbara Radziwiłłówna" by Józef Lejtes, have permanently entered the canon of the Polish cinema.

• Details
• Contents