Buczkowski, Leonard

(1900-1967)

   One of Poland's most accomplished filmmakers during the early postwar period, Buczkowski began his career as an assistant of Wiktor Biegański. In 1928 he directed his first film, Daredevils (Szaleńcy, rereleased in 1934 in the sound version), the patriotic picture about Józef Piłsudski's Legionnaires, which was awarded the Grand Prix and Gold Medal at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1929. Before 1939 Buczkowski directed eight films, including The Baltic Rhapsody (Rapsodia Bałtyku, 1935), Florian (1938), and Professor Wilczur's Last Will (Testament Profesora Wilczura, 1939, released by the Germans in 1942). Buczkowski became the only established prewar film director to be able to make films in Communist Poland, and he produced some of the most popular films during the postwar period. In 1947 he directed Forbidden Songs (Zakazane piosenki), generally regarded as the first postwar Polish film and one of the most popular Polish films ever, with fifteen million viewers. The film narrates an anthology of songs popular in Warsaw during the occupation. In his next film, the unpretentious comedy Treasure (Skarb, 1949), Buczkowski employed the prewar star Adolf Dymsza and two young leading actors who started their careers in Forbidden Songs, Danuta Szaflarska and Jerzy Duszyński. The film featureed topical Warsaw humor and the poetics of prewar Polish comedies, coupled with current problems such as the lack of housing. The director was credited as "Marian Leonard" as a punishment for making a number of short films for German companies during the war. Buczkowski's next popular comedy, An Adventure at Marienstadt (Przygoda na Mariensztacie, 1954), the first Polish film in color, serves as the best example of socialist realist comedy. Although active until his death, Buczkowski never repeated the commercial success of his earlier films in his next seven productions, including the war dramas The Submarine Eagle (Orzeł, 1959) and Time Past (Czas przeszły, 1961) and two contemporary films referring to the war events, The Case of Pilot Maresz (Sprawa pilota Maresza, 1955) and An Interrupted Flight (Przerwany lot, 1964).

   Other films: Squadron of the Stars (Gwiaździsta eskadra, 1930), The Shaft L-23 (Szyb 23, 1932), The Haunted Manor (Straszny dwór, 1936), White Slave (Biały murzyn, 1938), First Start (Pierwszy start, 1951), Rainy July (Deszczowy lipiec, 1958), Teenager (Smarkula, 1963), Maria and Napoleon (Marysia i Napoleon, 1966).

   Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof