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The Law of the Looking Glass
Ohio University Press Polish and Polish-American Studies Series
Series Editor: John J. Bukowczyk
Framing the Polish Home: Postwar Cultural Constructions of Hearth, Nation, and Self, edited by Bożena Shallcross
Traitors and True Poles: Narrating a Polish-American Identity, 1880–1939, by Karen Majewski
Auschwitz, Poland, and the Politics of Commemoration, 1945–1979, by Jonathan Huener
The Exile Mission: The Polish Political Diaspora and Polish Americans, 1939–1956, by Anna D. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann
The Grasinski Girls: The Choices They Had and the Choices They Made, by Mary Patrice Erdmans
Testaments: Two Novellas of Emigration and Exile, by Danuta Mostwin
The Clash of Moral Nations: Cultural Politics in Piłsudski’s Poland, 1926–1935, by Eva Plach
Holy Week: A Novel of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, by Jerzy Andrzejewski
The Law of the Looking Glass: Cinema in Poland, 1896–1939, by Sheila Skaff
SERIES ADVISORY BOARD
M. B. B. Biskupski, Central Connecticut State University
Robert E. Blobaum, West Virginia University
Anthony Bukoski, University of Wisconsin-Superior
Bogdana Carpenter, University of Michigan
Mary Patrice Erdmans, Central Connecticut State University
Thomas S. Gladsky, Central Missouri State University (ret.)
Padraic Kenney, Indiana University
John J. Kulczycki, University of Illinois at Chicago (ret.)
Ewa Morawska, University of Essex
Antony Polonsky, Brandeis University
Brian Porter-Szûcs, University of Michigan
James S. Pula, Purdue University North Central
Thaddeus C. Radzilowski, Piast Institute
Daniel Stone, University of Winnipeg
Adam Walaszek, Jagiellonian University
Theodore R. Weeks, Southern Illinois University
The Law of the Looking Glass
Cinema in Poland, 1896–1939
Sheila Skaff
OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS
ATHENS
Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701
© 2008 by Ohio University Press
All rights reserved
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Skaff, Sheila.
The law of the looking glass : cinema in Poland, 1896–1939 / Sheila Skaff.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8214-1784-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8214-1784-3 (cloth: alk. paper)
1. Motion pictures—Poland—History. 2. Motion picture industry—Poland—History. I. Title.
PN1993.5.P55S44 2008
791.4309438'09041—dc22
2008006416
ISBN: 978-0-8214-4252-4 (e-book)
Publication of books in the Polish and Polish-American Studies Series has been made possible in part by the generous support of the following organizations:
Polish American Historical Association,
New Britain, Connecticut
Stanislaus A. Blejwas Endowed Chair in Polish and Polish American Studies,
Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, Connecticut
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, Inc.,
New York, New York
The Piast Institute: An Institute for Polish and Polish American Affairs,
Detroit, Michigan
Contents
INTRODUCTION. The Cult of Visibility
2. The Emergence of a Competitive Industry, 1908–18
3. From National Cinema to Cinema in the Nation-State, 1918–23
4. The Golden Years of Silent Cinema, 1923–29
5. The Transition from Silent to Sound Film, 1929–30
6. The Transition in Practice, 1930–36
7. Beyond the Talkies, 1936–39
CONCLUSION. Visual Imagery and Language after World War II
Illustrations
An advertisement for an early demonstration of the Cinématographe