Classic Polish Pre1939 movies available

Polart Video Inc. just started releasing on DVD Prewar 1939 (przedwojenne) movies.

All movies are in Polish with English subtitles.

First five out of 30 movies prepared to be released in next three months are available for your browsing here:

Prewar movies on PolishMoviesOnline

We will return like the old days…

“Harriet”, “Love is for everyone”, “Ada, this is not proper”, “What is my husband doing at nights?”, “Is Lucyna a girl?”, “Black pearl”, “Doctor Murek”, “Young Forest”… the list of Polish prewar film hits seems to be endless. Those movies must have many enthusiasts, which is evidenced by success of the Stanisław Janicki’s “In the old cinema” series being broadcasted in public TV from 1967 to 1999. Where does this popularity of the old cinematography comes form? Maybe it is caused by nostalgia for what has passed? Or just an everlasting vintage fashion? Maybe it’s because contemporary productions are often disenchanting, not ravishing?
-Strength of those movies lies in the details, in its social and genre aspects. We can learn from them not only how people used to dress, comb or behave at the table, but also about their relations and the way they had strive for love. It may seems to be unimportant, but actually this is how the truth about those times comes to us – said Stanisław Jagnicki for “Newsweek”, known as a big supporter of a prewar Polish cinematography. Jan Machulski has mentioned few years ago: ” I remember the projection of Michał Waszyński’s “Medicine-man”, where I was taken by my aunt. Entire audience has cried during the movie and after that they gathered near cinema, discussing… and still crying.”

From melodrama to comedy

Polish cinematography before war is mostly melodramas and music comedies, which we would now call “romantic”. Slightly less often thrillers, dramas, adventure or historical movies (however there were also lot of them, like adventure thriller “Black Pearl” or historical “Young Forest” and “To Siberia”, censored in times of communism). As long as those melodramas nowadays seems to be obsoleted, comedies preserved their original unpretentious charm. Freshness, dynamic, but not complicated plot (sometimes pioneering, as in one of the best comedies of those times, “One floor above”, were the great prewar cinema lover Eugeniusz Bodo disguises himself as a women – twenty years before did the heroes of “Some Like It Hot” by Billy Wilder), cleverly written dialogues (oh, yes, in those times characters really used to talk to each other, not only spelling slogans or something vulgar and definitely not funny) and elegant encasement (the action of most of them was situated in high society). An additional advantage was those songs, some of them even became great hits, such as “Sex appeal” or “I am meeting her at nine” (both from earlier mentioned movie “One floor above”, firstly performed by Eugeniusz Bodo dressed as.. Mae West), “Love is for everyone”(form the movie at the same title), or “Love is forgiving everything”, sung by the biggest star of those days cabaret scene Hanka Ordonówna in “Spy in the mask”.

Mores recorded in cinematography

Movies produced before war were very carefully made, care was taken after every detail. That is because nowadays they are a splendid source of knowledge about how people used to live. Clothes, hairstyles, makeup, interior design, the language, division between social classes with its colors, how did people treat each other, music, dancing, vehicles and even shops, hotels and restaurants – all of this showed on a screen. Maybe that is the reason why those old movies are so readily watched – we can see Poland which is no longer existing. Simultaneously we are aware of the fact this is not a kind of historical reconstruction but just a record of those days “here and now”, so different from our present. And it arouses sentiment, nostalgia.

Kings and Queens of Polish screen

Cast was a substantial value of those old productions. Both dramas and comedies has been gathering the biggest stars from the top of a rank. Among men those who were leading were Aleksander Żabczyński, Franciszek Brodniewicz, Eugeniusz Bodo, Adolf Dymsza and Kazimierz Junosza – Stępowski. But the most shining star among women was Jadwiga Smosarska, unquestioned queen of the silver screen. But Polish cinematography was, actually, full of a big format stars, e. g. Tola Mankiewiczówna, Jadwiga Andrzejewska, Helena Grossówna, Loda Halama or Ina Benita. Furthermore – a characteristic thing for the prewar movies was that even in episodes has played recognizable actors, like Mieczysława Ćwiklińska, always amusing Franciszek Sielański, known for her perfect legs Zula Pogorzelska, elegant Ludwik Sempoliński or founder of the Mazowsze group Mira Zimińska. The audience was going to the cinema to see their favorite actors. They used to “go for” Smosarska or Żabczyński, director wasn’t that important. However, between them were also outstanding people, like Józef Lejtes or Michał Waszyński.

It is worth knowing, that life stories of most Polish artists could be as well a scenery for another movie. Stanisław Janicki said in an interview for stopklatka.pl : “With almost every figure from this period associate an interesting story. (…) Even the best screenwriter wouldn’t think of what was happening to them during war and after. Szczepko and Tońko (characters in “Vagabond” and other movies – note ed.) are a good example. Both were in II Corps, have been going through the whole way from Kazakhstan to Monte Cassino. When the war ended, Szczepko arrived to Poland to work in radio, while Tońko came back in 1988. He was in Johannesburg, then moved to England (…). He has lectured British constitutional law in best colleges. Actually, our famous actor was originally a law doctor. And he really was doing pretty well.”
Kazimierz Junosza – Sępowski was also quite colorful. His wife, a drug-addict, who was reporting Germans, was issued a death sentence by the Polish underground. Her famous husband has saved her for the execution by his own body. Eugeniusz Bodo (whose father was a Swiss engineer, thanks to what he also has Swiss citizenship) caught by NKVD died during war because of hunger and emaciation in soviet camp.

All those reasons bring to conclusion, that it’s worth to come back to Polish old cinematography from time to time. It has that something, which you couldn’t find in any contemporary production.

Source of quotes: “Newsweek Poland”, stopklatka.pl