''Gwiaździsta eskadra'' (''The Starry Squadron'') is a lost 1930 Polish

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by

Leonard Buczkowski Leonard Buczkowski (5 August 1900 – 19 February 1967) was a Polish film director and screenwriter. He directed 23 films between 1928 and 1966. His 1959 film ''The Eagle (1959 film), The Eagle'' was entered into the 1st Moscow International ...

. Shot with the co-operation of the

Polish army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

, it was the most expensive Polish film made before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was first released as

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

, before later being re-released with sound.

Plot

''Gwiaździsta eskadra'' told the romantic story of love between a Polish girl and an American volunteer pilot in the Polish 7th Air Escadrille (better known as the Kościuszko Squadron) during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–1921. The story was inspired by the actual life of

Merian C. Cooper Merian Caldwell Cooper (October 24, 1893 – April 21, 1973) was an American filmmaker, actor, producer and air officer. In film, his most famous work was the 1933 movie ''King Kong (1933 film), King Kong'', and he is credited as co-inventor of ...

, a

Polish Air Force The Polish Air Force () is the aerial warfare Military branch, branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 26,000 military personnel an ...

officer during the war, but much better known for his later career as an adventurer, director, screenwriter and producer. Cooper fathered Polish translator and writer

Maciej Słomczyński Maciej Słomczyński (April 10, 1922 – March 21, 1998) was a Polish translator and writer. For his detective stories he used the pen names Joe Alex and Kazimierz Kwaśniewski. Life and work Born in Warsaw, he was the son of Merian C. Cooper, an ...

during his time in Poland.

Loss of film copies

All copies of this film were destroyed during the Soviet occupation of Poland after World War II.

Cast

* Barbara Orwid - as Lili * Jana Krysta - as Zofia * Jerzy Kobusz - as Bond * Janusz Halny - as Woyda *

Stefan Szwarc Stefan may refer to: * Stefan (given name) * Stefan (surname) * Ștefan, a Romanian given name and a surname * Štefan, a Slavic given name and surname * Stefan (footballer) (born 1988), Brazilian footballer * Stefan Heym, pseudonym of German writ ...

* Andrzej Karewicz * Barbara Ludwiżanka * Zygmunt Biesiadecki

References

External links

Starry Squadron: The Polish Film That Never Was
on Culture.pl *

1930 films 1930 lost films 1930 war films 1930s Polish-language films Films about aviation Lost Polish films Lost war films Polish–Soviet War Polish black-and-white films Polish silent films Polish war films Lost silent films {{war-film-stub