Sienkiewicz, Henryk

(1846-1916)

   Perhaps the most popular Polish writer, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1905 for Quo Vadis. Films based on Sienkiewicz's historical epics that were originally written to "console the hearts" of Poles reinforced images of the heroic Polish past, chiefly The Teutonic Knights (Krzyżacy, 1960), directed by Aleksander Ford, and the trilogy Pan Michael (Pan Wołodyjowski, 1969), The Deluge (Potop, 1974), and With Fire and Sword (Ogniem i mieczem, 1999), all directed by Jerzy Hoffman. They were also the most popular Polish films. Vast panoramas, epic scopes, historical adventure stories utilizing Polish history, and, above all, Sienkiewicz's name proved to be enough to attract millions to these adaptations. They were eagerly awaited by Polish audiences for whom this writer and the characters populating his historical novels were (and are) household names. Sienkiewicz's works, considered "cinematic" by critics, have been adapted for the screen since the beginning of the twentieth century, some of them several times, for example, The Deluge (1912, 1914, and 1974), In Desert and Wilderness (Wpustyni i w puszczy, 1973, 2001), and Quo Vadis (four times in France—1909, 1913, 1924, and 1951—and in 2001 by Jerzy Kawalerowicz in Poland). Other works by Sienkiewicz adapted for the screen include, among others, Charcoal Sketches (Szkice węglem, 1912, 1957), Hania (1917, 1936, 1939 version never released, 1984), and The Połaniecki Family (Rodzina Połanieckich, 1978, TV series, 1984).

   See also Adaptations.

   Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof