#józef poniatowski in cinema

[springsteens]

I have only one expectation of the 2023 Napoleon movie. Please, include Polish characters

[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).

[sollannaart]

Józef Poniatowski’s depiction in movies

Part II. In the films about Napoleon-Walewska

1. This most known Polish movie on the topic is, of course, “Marysia i Napoleon” (“Maria and Napoleon”).

And prince Józef was played there by Zdzisław Maklakiewicz:

And do not let this black-and-white image confuse you, this movie, though made in 1966, was colorful! But the DVD with it I have is of such a poor quality (a screenshot from it can be seen, for example, in this post) that I prefer to look for better photos from Internet whenever possible.

Pepi with Henriette de Vauban (played by Ewa Berger-Jankowska)

Strangely, but this movie is also available on YouTube (and even in the quality better than on my DVD), but… with only Russian audiotrack (good for you, @tairin) and… with some scenes cut (( And among them, unfortunately, is the one with prince Józef - where ladies ask him to persuade Walewska to give in to Napoleon.

2. Next item in this list will be an episode of the joint French-Polish TV-series “Napoléon et l’Europe”. The episode under the name “Marie Walewska”. (A friend of mine, who was lucky enough to watch this series on TV, told me that she remembered that prince Józef’s death was also shown there, but judging the information in the Internet Poniatowski appeared there only in one episode.) And he was played by Daniel Olbrychski:

And yes, this tv-series made in 1991 was of course colorful. But because it’s neither in my collection and nor can be found in the Internet the only thing I am able to show you are these photos from the Polish National Film Archive.

Daniel Olbrychski with Jean-François Stévenin (Napoleon)

And if you, by lucky chance, know where can this tv-series be bought or watched - please-please-please, let me know! (Even if it is on VHS, not DVD)

Daniel Olbrychski with Joanna Szczepkowska (Marie Walewska)

And speaking of Olbrychski - “Napoléon et l’Europe” wasn’t the first time he “played” Poniatowski. Because in 1980 in Kraków, as part of the "Krakow Day", the "entry of Prince Józef Poniatowski to Krakow in 1809" was recreated. And in this show prince Józef was portrayed by Daniel Olbrychski.

3. Prince Poniatowski also appears in such a Hollywood classics as “Conquest” (also known as „Marie Walewska”).

C. Henry Gordon as prince Józef

And though the actor’s make-up has some flows (like side whiskers’ absence etc), and during the whole movie he utters only a couple of sentences, I was still very glad to see him here.

A screenshot from the movie. Poniatowski - on the left, in the middle - Maria Walewska (Greta Garbo).

And if you’d like to watch the movie, it can be found, for example, here on YouTube.

What else is left? Unfortunately, dear friends, the rest of the images will be just actors photos, without any make-up etc. So you’ll have to turn on your fantasy to imagine how they might have looked like playing prince Józef ))

4. In 1914 there was produced a joint Polish-French silent movie called “Bóg Wojny” („The God of War”, also known as „Pani Walewska”). Józef Ponitowski was played there by Bronisław Oranowski:

Bronisław Oranowski

5. 6 years later, in 1920 in Germany, the love story between the Emperor of the Frenchmen and a Polish countess was filmed again, under the title “Gräfin Walewska” (“The countess Walewska”). Prince Poniatowski was portrayed there by Leopold von Ledebur:

Leopold von Ledebur

Unfortunately, neither first nor second silent movies survived till our times…

6. And the last item of this list will be a British TV-series of 1974, devoted to Napoleon’s women - “Napoleon and Love”. In the episode “Maria Walewska” prince Poniatowski was played by Vladek (Władysław) Sheybal.

Vladek Sheybal

I haven’t seen this movie either, so if you know where can it be watched - please let me know!