Black Cross (1960)
"Krzyzacy" (original title)

A tale of a young impoverished nobleman, who with his uncle returns from a war against the order of the Teutonic Knights in Lithuania. He falls in love with a beautiful woman and pledges an... See full summary »

Director:

Aleksander Ford

Writers:

Aleksander Ford (dialogue), Aleksander Ford (screenplay),

Stars:

Urszula Modrzynska, Grazyna Staniszewska, Andrzej Szalawski

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Urszula Modrzynska	...	Jagienka Zychówna
Grazyna Staniszewska	...	Danusia
Andrzej Szalawski	...	Jurand of Spychów
Henryk Borowski	...	Siegfried de Löwe
Aleksander Fogiel	...	Macko of Bogdaniec
Mieczyslaw Kalenik	...	Zbyszko of Bogdaniec
Emil Karewicz	...	Wladyslaw II. Jagiello - King of Poland and Lithuania
Tadeusz Kosudarski	...	Bother Rotgier
Lucyna Winnicka	...	Duchess Anna Danuta of Masovia
Tadeusz Bialoszczynski	...	Duke Janusz I Mazowiecki
Mieczyslaw Voit	...	Kuno von Liechtenstein
Janusz Strachocki	...	Konrad von Jungingen
Stanislaw Jasiukiewicz	...	Ulrich von Jungingen
Leon Niemczyk	...	Fulko de Lorche
Zbigniew Skowronski	...	Tolima

Storyline

A tale of a young impoverished nobleman, who with his uncle returns from a war against the order of the Teutonic Knights in Lithuania. He falls in love with a beautiful woman and pledges an oath to bring her "three trophies" from the Teutonic Knights.

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Plot Keywords:

knight | kidnapping | one word title | polish history | middle ages | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | History | Romance | War

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Details

Official Sites:

Film Datebase entry(Polish)

Country:

Poland

Language:

Polish

Release Date:

January 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

Black Cross

Filming Locations:

Lódz, Lódzkie, Poland

Box Office

Budget:

PLN 33,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Zespol Filmowy "Studio"

Technical Specs

Runtime:

166 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was made to commemorate the 550th anniversary of the battle in Grunwald, which took place on 15th July 1410. The movie's first screening was held exactly on 15th July 1960.

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Goofs

Several knights can be seen wearing sneakers beneath the armor, although at the time the film is set, these were not available.

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Connections

Referenced in 1409. Afera na zamku Bartenstein (2005)

User Reviews

A thorough adaptation of the great novel

Polish cinema is always good at adapting heroic war films like Potop or Ogniem I Mieczem. This one, based upon the book of the Noble Prize winner, Henryk Sienkiewycz, is a real hit. The directors managed to adapt this large and serious historical novel to a screen version. The plot tells about the wars between Poland and the Knights who were called the Crerss Bearers and lived in old Prussia nearby. The thrilling story tells about two brave and valiant Polish knights, Macko and Zbyszek. This story has everything - love story, tragedy of the Polish people being oppressed by the knights of Prussia, the heroic struggle, and on top of it all, the Grunwald Battle, that was the deafening defeat of the Prussian knights and lead to the changes in their history after that. Music, operators' work, actors' play, especially the parts of Henryk Borowski and Mieczyslaw Voit are impeccable. This is a fine example of the classic Polish battle movies.