SIENKIEWICZ, HENRYK

(1846-1916)

Perhaps the most popular Polish writer, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1905 forQuo Vadis. Films based on Sienkiewicz's historical epics that were originally written to "console the hearts" of Poles reinforced images of the heroic Polish past, chieflyThe Teutonic Knights(Krzyżacy, 1960), directed byAleksander Ford, and the trilogyPan Michael(Pan Wołodyjowski, 1969),The Deluge(Potop, 1974), andWith Fire and Sword(Ogniem i mieczem, 1999), all directed byJerzy Hoffman.They were also the most popular Polish films. Vast panoramas, epic scopes, historical adventure stories utilizing Polish history, and, above all, Sienkiewicz's name proved to be enough to attract millions to theseadaptations. They were eagerly awaited by Polish audiences for whom this writer and the characters populating his historical novels were (and are) household names. Sienkiewicz's works, considered "cinematic" by critics, have been adapted for the screen since the beginning of the twentieth century, some of them several times, for example,The Deluge(1912, 1914, and 1974),In Desert and Wilderness(Wpustyni i w puszczy, 1973, 2001), andQuo Vadis(four times in France—1909, 1913, 1924, and 1951—and in 2001 byJerzy Kawalerowiczin Poland). Other works by Sienkiewicz adapted for the screen include, among others,Charcoal Sketches(Szkice węglem, 1912, 1957),Hania(1917, 1936, 1939 version never released, 1984), andThe Połaniecki Family(Rodzina Połanieckich, 1978, TV series, 1984).

See alsoAdaptations.