TRYSTAN, LEON

(Chaim Lejb Wagman, 1899-1941)

An actor turned critic and then filmmaker, Trystan attempted to develop a coherent film theory in his articles by referring to the French Impressionist avant-garde theory of Louis Delluc and Jean Epstein. In his works published between 1922 and 1924, Trystan propagated poetic cinema: cinema that is avant-garde, "photogenic," and influenced by the concept of "film as music." As a filmmaker, Trystan made seven feature films between 1926 and 1938. In the first two, made in 1927,Szamota's Lover(Kochanka Szamoty) andThe Mutiny of Blood and Iron(Bunt krwi i zelaza), he tried to follow his theoretical premises; he combined melodrama with "photogenic" scenes that enhanced the atmosphere and created suspense. The later three films were commercial undertakings, including a popular musicalcomedy,Upstairs(Piętro wyzej, 1937), starringEugeniusz Bodo. His last film was made in 1938 inYiddishand codirected withJoseph Green—A Letter to Mother(A brivele der mamen)—which had its premiere in the United States after the war.

Other films:Imprisoned Souls(Dusze w niewoli, 1930),Two Days in Paradise(Dwa dni w raju, 1936).