Bodo, Eugeniusz

(Bogdan Junod, 1899-1943)

   The versatile Bodo, voted "the king of Polish screens" in 1932, is considered by critics to be one of the most important filmmakers of the pre-1939 period and a symbol of commercial Polish cinema in the 1930s. This gifted actor, director, scriptwriter, producer, and singer of Swiss origin started his career in popular Warsaw theaters in 1919. Due to his ability to sing and dance, Bodo's career flourished after the advent of sound in the 1930s. Since his debut role in 1925, he appeared in more than twenty-nine films, including patriotic pictures, melodramas, sensational dramas, musical comedies, and comedies. Although he starred in classic patriotic pictures, such as To Siberia (1930, Henryk Szaro) and The Heroes of Siberia (1936, Michał Waszyński), and dramas, for example I Lied (1937, Mieczysław Krawicz) and The Ghosts (Strachy, 1938, Eugeniusz Cękalski and Karol Szołowski), he is chiefly remembered for his roles in popular films, mostly musical comedies, such as Is Lucyna a Girl? (1934, Juliusz Gardan), His Excellency, the Chauffeur (1935, Waszyński), and Upstairs (1937, Leon Trystan). He sang several prewar Polish hits, including evergreens such as "If I Find Such a Wife" ("Jeśli znajdę taką żonę") from Is Lucyna a Girl? and "I'm Meeting Her at 9 PM" ("Umówiłem się z nią na dziewiątą") from Upstairs.

   Bodo also served as a scriptwriter of several films, including The Black Pearl (1934, Waszyński), The Heroes of Siberia, and Upstairs, and he directed two films, The Queen of the Suburb (Królowa przedmieścia, 1938) and For Sins Uncommitted (Za winy niepopełnione, 1938). In 1931, together with Waszyński and Adam Brodzisz, Bodo cofounded the studio B-W-B, for which he produced seven films, directed by Waszyński and Trystan. In 1941 Bodo was arrested by the Soviet secret police in Lvov and killed in 1943 in a Soviet concentration camp. The tragic circumstances of his death are the subject of the television documentary film Eugeniusz Bodo: For Sins Uncommitted (Eugeniusz Bodo: Za winy niepopełnione, 1997), directed by Stanisław Janicki.

   Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof