1948 documentary short about Poland (reel 1)

Identifier
irn1005131
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2003.214
  • RG-60.7133
Dates
1 Jan 1948 - 31 Dec 1948
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • Silent
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Julien Hequembourg Bryan (1899-1974) was an American documentarian and filmmaker. Bryan traveled widely taking 35mm film that he sold to motion picture companies. In the 1930s, he conducted extensive lecture tours, during which he showed film footage he shot in the former USSR. Between 1935 and 1938, he captured unique records of ordinary people and life in Nazi Germany and in Poland, including Jewish areas of Warsaw and Krakow and anti-Jewish signs in Germany. His footage appeared in March of Time theatrical newsreels. His photographs appeared in Life Magazine. He was in Warsaw in September 1939 when Germany invaded and remained throughout the German siege of the city, photographing and filming what would become America's first cinematic glimpse of the start of WWII. He recorded this experience in both the book Siege (New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1940) and the short film Siege (RKO Radio Pictures, 1940) nominated for an Academy Award in 1940. In 1946, Bryan photographed the efforts of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency in postwar Europe.

Scope and Content

Reel 1. Title cards read “THE INTERNATIONAL FILM FOUNDATION PRESENTS” then “POLAND,” “THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE,” and additional credits appear over an illustration of a flag with the Polish eagle. EXT Wawel Cathedral in Kraków. River and raft in FG, Wawel Cathedral in BG. People walking in a courtyard. (01:10) Map with illustration of Kraków and labeled “UNION OF POLAND-LITHUANIA AND RUTHENIA.” EXT market in front of St. Mary's Basilica. Additional buildings, courtyards, and street views. Sandomierska Tower. Many people walking in the streets. Sigismund's Column in Warsaw. Sign next to a doorway reads “SKLAD WIN T. FUKIER EGZYSTUJE OD 1610 R.” CU of sign that reads “DEPOT DE VIN T. FUKIER FONDE EN 1610.” Architectural details of a lion and a face on a building. Palace on the Isle (Pałac Na Wyspie), also known as Baths Palace in Warsaw. (03:07) Map of Europe with “POLAND” labeled. Animation shows the area of Poland in 1795, then 1914. EXT River with spires in distance. Horse drawn cart on street. Two people walking up the drive of a building with four columns. CU Front door, man and dog emerge and greet the woman. People walking grounds, man with cane gesturing. Horses and cows. People sorting through piles of vegetables. CU Men smoking. Horse powered farm machinery. (05:11) EXT Women sitting in a square with market wares on blankets before them. Cart of live geese wheeled past. Market. Two young children in traditional dress. Two women walking up lane with geese. Women and children passing through the gate. Religious procession in the street. Altar boys and people holding candles. Many people in traditional costume walk down a hill. CU men smoking pipes. Farm and children walking through the farmyard. Men enter room and greet the women sitting within. One woman is churning butter. Woman cooking potatoes in a skillet. EXT men and women in traditional costume dancing. (08:25) EXT Horse drawn carts on dirt roads. People walk along dirt road. Boy with goat on a rope. CU man with white hair and beard. Cobbled street in Jewish quarter with man selling balloons. Storefronts. CU Store sign reads “M FINKELSTEIN 1896.” CU Old Jewish man and women in front of the store. CU Boys talking. Alleyway with arch, balconies, and stairway. CU Poster with “TYDZIEN SZKOLY POWSZECHNEJ” text and before and after type illustration of a school. EXT children exit school building. Catholic nun teacher leads group of young children. CU Young children walking past. (10:08) Frederic Chopin Monument in Warsaw. Many prams in the park. CU Baby bouncing in a pram. Family with pram and young children walking up a path.

Subjects

Places

Genre

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