Year 1863
Reconstructed as part of the Nitrofilm project, this is the first screen adaptation in the history of Polish cinema of Stefan Żeromski’s novel The Faithful River. During one of the battles of the January Uprising, a young prince named Józef Odrowąż miraculously survives. Seriously wounded, he heads toward a nearby village, where he is captured and held by hostile peasants. He is saved, and taken to a manor house in Niezdoły, where he is cared for by Salomea Brynicka and her elderly, nearly deaf servant, Szczepan Podkurek. They manage to hide the badly wounded insurgent during several searches by the soldiers of the invading army. Feelings begin to develop between the young man and woman. Some time later, emissaries of the Duchess Odrowążyna arrive at the house in Niezdoły, looking for the Duchess’s missing son. The role of the wounded Prince was played by Ryszard Sobiszewski, a popular actor, dancer, and teacher in the early 1920s. The film also featured the well-known and talented theater actresses Stanisława Chrzanowska and Helena Marcello-Palińska, while actual insurgents from the January Uprising in 1863 appeared as extras.
The film score will be performed live by DesOrient on Wrocław’s Market Square.
Marta Maślanka - dulcimer
Małgorzata Szarlik - Violin
Mateusz Stankiewicz - accordion
Bogdan Kupisiewicz - guitar
Mariusz Puchłowski - flutes
Robert Siwak - percussion
Michał Woźniak - contrabass
Edward Puchalski
(1874 - 1942) The film’s director and screenwriter, Leonard Buczkowski, is recognized as a pioneer of Polish cinema. He first worked as a journalist and later worked with amateur troupes in Silesia. In 1913, he started working on a screen adaptation of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s Trilogy, but the tsarist authorities prevented him from continuing his work on the film. He spent World War I in Russia, where he worked in film studios, and after some time, he began running his own studio there. After his return to Poland, he became one of the country’s best-known film directors and screenwriters.
Selected filmography
1913 Obrona Częstochowy
1921 Tragedia Rosji i jej trzy epoki
1922 Rok 1863
1926 Trędowata
1928 Ludzie dzisiejsi