Nights and Days
Nights and Days is a 1975 Polish film directed by Jerzy Antczak. This epic family drama was based on Maria Dąbrowska's novel Noce i dnie, and was described by The Washington Post as "Poland's Gone With the Wind". Set in Kalisz and the Kalisz Region in the second half of the 19th century after the failure of the January Uprising in 1863, the film presents a unique portrait of an oppressed society, life in exile, and the confiscation of private property as told through the loves and struggles of the Niechcic family. This sweeping historical epic was the highest-grossing film in Poland's history upon its release and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1977. The film score was composed by Waldemar Kazanecki, which includes a Viennese waltz that is frequently played at Polish weddings as the first dance of bride and groom.
Plot
Nights and Days is a family saga of Barbara Ostrzeńska-Niechcic, and Bogumił Niechcic, against the backdrop of the January Uprising of 1863 and World War I. The film is a rather straightforward and faithful adaptation of a novel by Maria Dąbrowska with the same title. The plot is woven around the changing fortunes of a noble (upper-class, although deprived of property as post-uprising repression) Niechcic family in the pre-WWI Poland. There are two main crossing threads: a social history one and an existential one. The cinematographic version is a condensation of the 12-part award winning TV serial of the same title and using the same cast and producers.
Cast
- Alicja Jachiewicz
- Andrzej Seweryn
- Andrzej Szenajch
- Anna Nehrebecka
- Barbara Ludwiżanka
- Barbara Rachwalska
- Beata Tyszkiewicz
- Bogusław Sochnacki
- Cezary Julski
- Elżbieta Karkoszka
- Elżbieta Starostecka
- Ewa Dałkowska
- Halina Buyno-Łoza
- Henryk Borowski
- Izabella Dziarska
- Jadwiga Barańska
- Jadwiga Kuryluk
- Jan Englert
- Jan Nowicki
- Janina Traczykówna
- Janusz Paluszkiewicz
- Jerzy Bińczycki
- Jerzy Kamas
- Karol Strasburger
- Kazimierz Kaczor
- Kazimierz Opaliński
- Leszek Piskorz
- Ludwik Benoit
- Magdalena Wołłejko
- Magdalena Zawadzka
- Marek Walczewski
- Mieczysław Voit
- Olgierd Łukaszewicz
- Ryszarda Hanin
- Stanisława Celińska
- Tadeusz Fijewski
- Władysław Hańcza
- Wiktor Nanowski
- Zdzisław Mrożewski
- Zofia Merle
- Zygmunt Zintel