Wars, Henryk

(Henryk Warszawski, 1902-1977)

   Born into a Jewish musical family, Wars graduated from the Music Conservatory in Warsaw in 1925. He established himself in the late 1920s as the author of widely popular Warsaw cabaret songs. In 1930 he composed music for his first film, the patriotic picture To Siberia, directed by Henryk Szaro. Before the outbreak of World War II, this highly regarded film composer provided musical scores for forty-seven films. Wars composed music for, among others, Józef Lejtes's General Pankratov's Daughter (1934), Juliusz Gardan's Is Lucyna a Girl? (1934), and Michał Waszynski's Antek, the Police Chief (1935), The Heroes of Siberia (1936), and The Quack (1937). He also composed music and popular songs for the classic prewar musical comedy The Forgotten Melody (1938), directed by Konrad Tom and Jan Fethke. Wars's numerous prewar hits include one of the best-loved Polish songs, "Love Will Forgive You Everything" ("Miłość ci wszystko wybaczy"), performed by Hanka Ordonówna in the 1933 film The Masked Spy (Szpieg w masce), directed by Mieczysław Krawicz. After World War II, Wars settled in the United States where, credited as Henry Vars, he composed music for several Hollywood films from 1951 to 1971.

   Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof