Film Theory in Poland Before World War II

Abstract

Polish cinema has a history essentially as long as those of cinemas elsewhere. The first screening in Polish territories took place in Cracow in 1896, and in that same year Kazimierz Pr6szyiski created his own camera, pleograph. In 1902, perfected pleograph was employed by Preszyfski to produce first Polish narrative film, Powr*t Birbanta (The Return of a Merry Fellow). Regular production in Poland started, however, some years later with adaptations of national literary canon, commercially-minded melodramas, and comedies. In general, production before World War I remained domain of economically feeble, ephemeral studios. During war, number of films produced increased. The studio Sfinks, a virtual monopolist which promoted its own version of Hollywood star system (responsible for beginnings of Pola Negri's career), produced, among others, several patriotic (anti-Russian) pictures reflecting spirit of that time. The restoration of Polish state in 1918 created conditions for development of national art. Although industry was still economically weak, theory and criticism flourished during first years of independence. Unlike Polish pre-war productions, Polish criticism and theory attained a comparatively high standard and an original profile. In her indispensable book on history of Polish theory, Jadwiga Bochenska divides pre-war theorizing into three distinct periods: (1) from 1898 to World War I; (2) period between 1918-1930, ending with introduction of sound; (3) 1930s and World War II.2 According to Marcin Gizycki, mediocrity of production in pre-war Poland provided impetus to campaign for artistic cinema.3 Between two world wars, Polish intellectuals and artists went through a peculiar film fever,4 as Gizycki calls it, which was quite incompatible with current stage of development of local cinema. The result of this creative fever deserves more careful analysis. In Poland, as elsewhere, the first 'theories' sound more like birth announcements than scientific inquiries-to repeat Dudley Andrew's wellknown comment.5 Cinema, still in its infancy, did not provide a fertile ground for theory. The majority of early texts on consisted of dilettantish yet passionate attempts to give cinema stature of art. FILM THEORY FROM 1898 TO WORLD WAR I The first texts written by a Pole on cinema appeared as early as 1898: they were Boleslaw Matuszewski's two studies, Une nouvelle source de l'Histoire and La Photographie animte, published in French, in Paris.6 These were pioneer texts, arguably on a world scale, which aimed at presenting practical possibilities of to world of science and government institutions. Though now almost forgotten, publication of these works was well-received and debated in many French journals.7 Matuszewski (1856-1943?), a well-known Warsaw photographer and cameraman, probably worked for Lumiere brothers in Poland, France, and Russia where, in 1897, Tsar awarded him title of court cinematographer. As a cameraman travelling across Europe, Matuszewski was interested primarily in recording function of film, as an eyewitness to history. Film, according to Matuszewski, provides research methods for science of history by supplying it with direct vision. In his studies, he considers living photographs capable of truthful documentation of reality. Unlike traditional photography, which is capable of distortions and falsifications, living photographs can present only absolute truth.8 This opinion, interestingly, Matuszewski grounds on technical impossibility of altering thousands of pictures (frames). Matuszewski, regarded in Poland as pioneer of scientific cinema, stresses cinema's educational and cultural role in bringing nations together. He postulates creation of archives, a storehouse of historical cinematography, functioning as a new source of history. …