#ułan księcia józefa

[sollannaart]

Józef Poniatowski’s depiction in movies

Part I. Films not related to Napoleon-Walewska story

Good day to you all, dear friends, and let me (while I am on vacation) pick as the topic of this week’s post not very serious one. Namely - to show you actors who played prince Poniatowski in movies.

About half of the movies where prince Józef appears are, however, dedicated to Napoleon’s love affair with Maria Walewska - to them I dedicated the next post. Today let us look to another half.

1. The first movie in my list will be a Polish movie from 1937 named „Ułan księcia Józefa” („The Uhlan of Prince Joseph”), also known as “Dziewczyna i ułan” (“The girl and the uhlan”).

Franciszek Brodniewicz as prince Józef in The Uhlan of prince Józef

And, frankly speaking, this is my favorite movie from those where Pepi appears. Why? At least because it’s not about the war, it’s about love (though the girl here chooses the uhlan over prince Józef).

Prince Józef at the ball, with ladies

And also I liked very much how Franciszek Brodniewicz played Pepi. (And can’t understand, at all, how the heroine could give her heart to an uhlan, when Poniatowski was courting her)))

Franciszek Brodniewicz with Jadwiga Smosarska, who played the main heroine, Kasia.

For those who became interested in this film I am giving the link on Youtube (but it is in Polish and doesn’t have any subtitles, sorry).

2. The second from my list of non “Napoleon-Walewska”-related movies will be “Popioły” („The Ashes”) - Andrzej Wajda’s adaptation of Stefan Żeromski’s novel of the the same title. And though prince Józef was a minor of the book he appeared in movie, played by Stanisław Zaczyk.

Prince Józef during the battle of Raszyn

What’s interesting is that 12 years after “The Ashes” were filmed Stanisław Zaczyk played Poniatowski one more time, that time in a docudrama “Raszyn. 1809” devoted to the battle itself. (Alas, I was able neither to watch this movie, nor to find any screen from it.)

Stanisław Zaczyk as prince Józef in “The Ashes”

However, what is also interesting about the movie is that there we can see a “casual” Pepi - receiving visitors in a dressing gown:

Screenshot from The Ashes

And for those, who are interested, there links to this film on TouTube:

Part I, Part II, Part III (in Polish, without subtitles again, sorry…)

3. The next position from my list is more actor’s choice, than the movie. But nevertheless, though the film under the name „Książę Józef Poniatowski” where the actor played Pepi did not survive, there are photos of the actor in make-up, so please meet Józef Węgrzyn as Józef Poniatowski:

(But, I have to admit, I am not sure whether this is a photo from the film, or from the play of the same title which was written and staged in 1917, just a year before the film)

Nor I know the plot of the movie. But, judging by the fact that its director had the same surname as the play’s author (a brother?) is might have been an adaptation of the play.

And this is definitely a photo from the play (because it’s from a book with it):

4. To finish this part I would also like with an actor. Who played… an actor playing prince Józef.

So please meet Marek Kondrat as “actor Marek playing Józef Poniatowski” in Juliusz Machulski’s film “V.I.P.”:

And one more screenshot, showing the “filming scene”:

The whole movie (in Polish) can be watched on YouTube, here (the time is set approximately to the beginning of the scene).