Wlóczegi (1939)

User Rating:

9.0/10   

Director:

Michal Waszynski

Writers:

Emanuel Schlechter (writer)
Konrad Tom (writer)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot Keywords:

One Word Title

Cast

Kazimierz Wajda	...	Szczepan Migacz (as Szczepko)
Henryk Vogelfanger	...	Antoni Tytylyta (as Tonko)
Stanislawa Wysocka	...	Baroness von Dorn
Stanislawa Stepniowna	...	Krysia
Helena Grossówna	...	Wandzia Karsnicka
Antoni Fertner	...	Trompka, private eye
Stanislaw Sielanski	...	Niusko
Zbigniew Rakowiecki	...	Wladyslaw Barski
Andrzej Bogucki	...	Roman Karsnicki
Stanislaw Grolicki	...	Grandfather Galecki
Helena Sulimowa	...	Karolina
Helena Buczynska	...	Gospodyni

Also Known As:

The Tramps (informal English title)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

Poland

Language:

Polish

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono (Tobis Klangfilm)

Filming Locations:

Falanga, Warsaw, Poland

Company:

Warszawskie Biuro Kinematograficzne Feniks

Soundtrack:

Tylko we Lwowie

Top movie of Warsaw, 1939

The music (10/10) is sufficient reason to hunt this up, with the brilliant work of Henryk Wars (aka Henry Vars who wrote the Flipper theme),and lyrics by Emanuel Szlechter. The most famous are "Tylko we Lwowie" -- "Only in Lwow" and "Dobranoc Oczka Zmruz" -- "Goodnight blinky little eyes" which have become a Polish standards. There are also fine exterior shots of Lwow as place setting. This premiered in April in Warsaw where the studio is located, in spite of being nominally in Lwow.

Finally, the entertainment folks from Lwow were Jewish or Jewish influenced, as well as by Roma(Gypsie, Cygane), Ukrainian, Austro-Hungarian, and whoever else came through. This is a escapist movie that one might expect for the last spring/summer before the War. I would strongly recommend this film for those wishing to see something of the culture destroyed by the Holocaust or by the Soviet annexation of Lviv.

I must also recommend Bedzie Lepiej. This is in Polish, no subtitles, yet; Polish speakers go no further.

The Story, a comedy: The tramps Szcepko and Tonko perform Christmas puppet show for change and share their single Christmas Eve fish with Krysia and her father. Krysia, is orphaned but refuses to go live with her supposedly snobby, upper-crust grandmother. Instead she shares attic lodging with Tonko and Szczepko. Evenually Krysia ends up at her grandmothers house, but soon returns to the attic, where she is on the lam with Tonko and Szczepko. The tramps send Krysia to boarding school and finance this through a faked kidnapping scheme. Krysia finds love with an architect (who has the forgettable song here). In spite of cooperation of the boarding school butler, the whole thing unravels, but with a happy ending.