Cinema
A Strong Man
Mocny człowiek
Henryk Szaro · 1929
Synopsis
Henryk Bielecki, an ambitious and untalented journalist, dreams of fame and money. His friend Jerzy Górski, a sick writer weary of living, keeps in his drawers the manuscript of a novel, Un homme fort. Bielecki seizes it, publishes it under his own name and makes it a bestseller; he then rises in the world of luxury and the theatres of Warsaw, between his mistress Łucja, a landowner and his wife, and a publisher, ready to do anything to keep what he has taken.
Context
The film is the second adaptation of Stanisław Przybyszewski's novel, published in three volumes from 1911 to 1913; the first to bring it to the screen had been Meyerhold, in 1917. Written by Jerzy Braun and the director, photographed by Giovanni Vitrotti, it uses superimpositions and dissolves to depict the hero's doubling, and opens with views of Warsaw. Released on 2 October 1929, it was lost during the war, then found in 1997 in a Belgian film archive and restored by the National Film Archive.
Who it is for
About eighty minutes, silent, with Polish intertitles; a psychological drama from the end of the silent era, often shown with live musical accompaniment.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as the pinnacle of pre-war Polish cinema and one of the most accomplished works of Polish silent cinema.
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