Smak orientu i inne przyjemności. Rola filmów przygodowych i morskich w propagandzie II RP
The Taste of the Orient and Other Pleasures. The role of adventure and marine films in the propaganda of the Polish Second Republic

Summary/Abstract: In Polish journalism of the 1930s a recurring theme was the question of building a colonial empire. Because the government of the Second Republic made no official attempts at gaining overseas territories, this discussion took place above all in the press, literature, and on cinema screens. The schematic plot of adventures of a brave Pole having adventures in far off countries or dealing with international criminal gang appears in several important films of the era. Titles such as Voice of the Desert (“Głos pustyni”, 1932, dir. Michał Waszyński), or Signals (“Sygnały”, 1938, dir. Józef Lejtes), offered to Polish audiences attractions in the form of distant countries and sensational adventures, and served as a way of healing national complexes, placing Poland in line with the most powerful countries of the time. These films, as also noted in the article, reveal further details and contexts of life in Poland of the time.

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