How I Unleashed World War II

How I Unleashed World War II
Polish DVD cover
Directed byTadeusz Chemielewski
Screenplay byTadeusz Chmielewski
Based onThe Adventures of Dolas the Cannoneer
by Kazimierz Sławiński
Produced byLudgierd Romanis
StarringMarian Kociniak
CinematographyJerzy Stawicki
Edited byJanina Niedźwiecka
Music byJerzy Matuszkiewicz
Production
company
Release date
  • 2 April 1970 (1970-04-02)
Running time
224 minutes
CountryPoland
LanguagesPolish
German
Serbo-Croat
Greek
English
French
Italian
Russian
Franek Dolas' route

How I Unleashed World War II (Polish: Jak rozpętałem drugą wojnę światową) is a 1970 Polish comedy film directed by Tadeusz Chmielewski and based on Kazimierz Sławiński's novel "Przygody kanoniera Dolasa" (The Adventures of Dolas the Cannoneer). It was shot in Sochi, Baku, Poświętne and Łódź, among other places.

Synopsis

The film was divided into three parts:

  • Część I: Ucieczka (Part I: The Escape)
  • Część II: Za bronią (Part II: Following the Arms)
  • Część III: Wśród swoich (Part III: Among Friends)

Originally filmed in black and white, it was digitally colorized in 2001 by the Hollywood company Dynacs Digital Studios, as requested by the Studio Filmowe "Oko" and TV Polsat.[1]

The film tells the story of a Polish soldier Franciszek (Franek) Dolas, who—as a result of comical coincidences—is convinced that he started the Second World War. Trying to redeem himself at all costs, he constantly gets into new trouble. In doing so, he finds himself on different war fronts (Yugoslavia, Mediterranean Sea, Middle East, Italy) and eventually returns to Poland.

In a particularly famous scene, Dolas is questioned by a German-speaking Gestapo officer in Austria and answers that his name is "Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz"; the officer gets increasingly frustrated trying to write the fictitious Polish name.[2][3]

Cast

References

  1. ^ "2 kwietnia 1970 roku miała miejsce premiera filmu "Jak rozpętałem drugą wojnę światową" » Historykon.pl". Historykon.pl (in Polish). 2022-04-02. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
  2. ^ Gliński, Mikołaj (29 July 2016). "The 9 Most Unpronounceable Words in Polish". Culture.pl. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016.
  3. ^ Gazur, Łukasz; Strzyga, Lucjan (18 March 2016). "Zmarł niezapomniany Franek Dolas" [The unforgettable Franek Dolas has died]. Dziennik Polski (in Polish). Archived from the original on 22 August 2020.