The captain Michal Lazowski says goodbye in the Krakow railway station to his family; Wanda, his wife and Nelly, his beloved daughter.
Lazowski is going to war against the Soviets ( the Poles were very busy those silent days, fighting against their greedy neighbours ) but unfortunately he will caught by those Russian communists; in the U.S.R.R. he will work in an arms factory, be pursued by the bolshevists and then spends time in the Crimea, where a princess will fall in love with him. Obviously, Herr Lazowski had little time to be bored.
In the meantime, his wife, having had no news about her captain and assuming he is dead, decides to marry another man, Professor Glowinski. Her daughter Nelly doesn't approve and tries to kill herself by jumping in front of car, but fortunately in those days the automobiles were not going too fast so she survives. The same day that Lazowski's wife is marrying another man, our hero finally makes it back to the motherland, Poland in this case, but he gets shot. This sacrifice is not in vain because it is in the service of the massive army led by the Pole independent leader, Herr Josef Pilsudski.
"Mogila Nieznanego Zolnierza" ( Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier ) was a patriotic film made in order to celebrate the 10th Polish independence anniversary. It was directed by Herr Ryszard Ordynski whose experience was s mostly in the theater ( he worked in the most important theatres of Europe and Amerika ). He met Herr Max Reinhardt in 1909 in Munich and had great influence on Ordynski's theatre direction work. Unfortunately, this it is not reflected in this film which has little artistic merit( simplistic and unimaginative direction ) although it is very interesting for the silent archaeologists due that the fact that there are only 30 silent films in the Polish film archives ( many of them incomplete as is this film from which only survived 5 out of 10 acts). This last film puts an end to the Polish silent film programme showed in the Schloss during the last weeks; it was a great pleasure and a privilege for this German Count to discover such exotic oeuvres although that they were produced near the Schloss limits ( whatever they be ).
And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must continue to be a polished but overall German aristocrat.
Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/
