HOURS OF HOPE [1955]
year:
- 1955
release date:
- 9 V 1955
runtime:
- 87 min
directed by:
- Jan Rybkowski
written by:
- Jerzy Pomianowski based on his own novel
director of photography:
- Władysław Forbert
cast:
- Zbigniew Józefowicz [Captain Walek, the hospital commander], Krystyna Kamieńska [Doctor Anna], Stanisław Mikulski [Lieutenant Jan Basior], Jadwiga Chojnacka [Nurse Margiel], Bronisław Pawlik [Szczeżuja, a hairdresser], Zofia Mrozowska [an actress], Bohdan Ejmont [Pilot Pietia], Stefan Rydel [sturmführer von Lyx], Stanisław Milski [Nagel, an SS Colonel], Jerzy Kaliszewski [major Woynicz], Leon Niemczyk [an American officer], Janusz Jaroń [HQ officer], Jerzy Kawka [scharführer Schkoppeck], Kazimierz Szubert [Kurak], Eugeniusz Solarski [rybak]
edited by:
- Czesław Raniszewski
music by:
- Andrzej Markowski
production design:
- Jan Grandys
produced by:
- Wytwórnia Filmów Fabularnych, Łódź
executive producer:
- Zygmunt Szyndler
awards:
-
-
- State Award of the 2nd degree 1955 for Jan Rybkowski, Władysław Forbert, and Jerzy Pomianowski
-
About the film
A war-based film with a love story, narrated in a manner far removed from the norms of the socialist realist aesthetic through expressive cinematography. Its naturalism is shocking and its pictorial symbolism surprising. An underrated masterpiece of the era.
Spring 1945. In a small western town liberated by the Red Army, a military hospital is stationed, the commander of which is also the commander of a small garrison. He does not know that a German armoured division commanded by SS Colonel Nagel is stationed in a nearby forest. He intends to charge through the town, which is the only way to the west.
The operation is led by von Lyx, the son of a local estate owner, but he is captured while on reconnaissance. Taken to the commander, he threatens a massive artillery attack on the streets, where there are crowds of people from all over Europe. The commander orders the evacuation of civilians, which is successfully completed. The defender of the town, Lieutenant Basior, is trapped and killed, but reinforcements arrive in time and win against the German armoured division.
Jan Słodowski, Leksykon polskich filmów fabularnych, Warszawa 1996
