Hertz was one of the founding fathers of the film industry. After 1945 his name somewhat faded into oblivion, and nowadays Hertz is known almost exclusively by historians. Only two out of eight films he directed survived until now: The Polish Dancer (1917) and People with no Tomorrow (1921). Evaluating his work as a director is thus rather difficult, since it would need to be based mostly on reviews and texts from his epoch. In contrast, his film production activity is quite well-known. There is no doubt that the founder of Sfinks had unparalleled influence on the development of Polish cinema in the 1920s and 1930s.
Hertz was born in Warsaw in an assimilated Jewish family. Initially there were no signs that the producer of The Polish Dancer would be involved in art in the future – he got a degree in law and then started working in a bank. Ever since he was a young man, he was interested in politics and since he was engaged in the Polish Socialist Party (he was helping Józef Piłsudski himself) he was taken to the tsar's court in 1908 and then forced into exile for a year. Surprisingly, this political issue turned for the best as during his stay abroad he explored how cinematographs from the West worked.
When he got back to Poland in 1909 he founded Towarzystwo Udziałowe along with Alfred Siberlast (Niemirski), Marek Zuker and Józef Koerner and opened Sfinks Cinema at 116 Marszałkowska Street in Warsaw. The movie theatre screened films recorded on the streets of Warsaw and foreign feature films.
Sfinks Film Studio, On the photo: Aleksander Hertz, Jan Skarbek-Malczewski and Józef Ostoja-Sulnicki, 1911, photo: National Film Archive In 1911 Hertz set up Sfinks Film Studio, which was to begin its activities with shooting adaptations of famous works of literature. Although the screen version of Sir Thaddeus fell through, Meir Ezofowicz written by Eliza Orzeszkowa was successfully directed by Józef Ostoja- Sulnicki and Hertz himself. This story about a 19th century Jewish community was not warmly approved by Polish Jews and Hertz – a fierce supporter of the assimilation – was accused of anti-Semitism. The validity of these charges, refuted by contemporary historians, is difficult to verify only 5 minutes of Meir survived to our day.
Obrona Częstochowy (The defense of Częstochowa) directed by Edward Puchalski, an adaptation of The Deluge written by Henryk Sienkiewicz, was not a lucky undertaking either. Hertz set up a company and began shooting the novel's adaptation, but the realisation was stopped due to the Russian authorities' interventions and the filmed material was included in a Russian version of The Deluge (1915) by Pyotr Chardynin.
Eventually, it was not the adaptations of literature classics that became Sfinks's speciality; instead, the studio gained its popularity filming kitchen-sink dramas and comedies. These were successful mostly thanks to the actresses which starred in them – Hertz was considered a true talent hunter. The first star of his film studio was Maria Dulęba, a theatre actress, who played in Meir Ezofowicz and the melodrama Przesądy (Superstitions, 1912) by Ostoia-Sulnicki, among others. However, the most precious gem that Hertz discovered was definitely Barbara Apolonia Chałupiec, famous worldwide under the pseudonym Pola Negri. Allegedly, the producer saw her performing in theatre and immediately offered her a role in his film. When their first production, the melodrama Niewolnica zmysłów (Slave of the senses, 1914) by Jan Pawłowski, turned out a success, Negri signed a contract with the film studio and played in such films like Żona (Wife, 1915) or Studenci (Students, 1916) by Hertz. The only one among them which survived till our day is The Polish Dancer. This melodrama tells a story about a teenager who is a successful local dancer. She is presented as a person cherishing freedom and causing the men she attracts trouble. Hertz avoids moralising and creating black-and-white characters. In terms of production as such, in comparison to other works of that time the film does not stand out.
Hertz might not have been the greatest director, but he was definitely an outstanding producer. One of his greatest achievements was the fact that the film studio was not closed with the outbreak of the World War I. It did not cease to function – neither in Congress Poland still under Russian rule, nor post 1915, under German occupation. The change of political situation – that is, transforming Congress Poland into the General Government of Warsaw, dependent on the German Empire instead of the Russian Empire – made Polish films appear on the German market, which helped Pola Negra gain recognition in the West. As a result, she soon 'betrayed' Hertz and moved out of Poland. A very similar story was that of Lya Mara, who initially played supporting roles in Sfinks's productions, and then had a great career in Germany. After Sfinks's great actresses had left, Hertz promoted a new star, Jadwiga Smosarska, who debuted in Dla Szczęścia (For happiness, 1919). Smosarska appeared in many profitable melodramas comprising the so-called 'golden series of Sfinks', such as Trędowata (Lewar, 1926) by Edward Puchalski and Józef Węgrzyn and Ziemia Obiecana (Promised Land, 1927) by Zbigniew Gniazdowski and Hertz. As these have mostly disappeared, Smosarska is more known to the contemporary audience thanks to the later works from the 1930s.
As a resourceful and capable producer as well as the discoverer of new film stars, Hertz gained himself a place in the history of Polish cinema. Even though many critics of the era deemed Sfinks's productions simple and kitschy, Hertz catered to the expectations of a broad audience and had an excellent entrepreneurial intuition. His death in 1928 was an end of a certain epoch in the history of Polish cinema. Hertz's film studio never regained its former glory, and soon a completely new period was to start in cinema – the sound era.
For more info see: W. Banaszkiewicz, W. Witczak, Historia filmu polskiego, vol I, Warsaw 1989; I. Żukowska, F. Toeplitz-Cieślak, Sfinks: wizjonerzy i skandaliści kina, Warsaw 2016.
Author: Robert Birkholc, June 2018, translated by: Karolina Mroczkowska, June 2018.
Filmography:
Direction:
- 1927 – Ziemia obiecana (Promised Land)
- 1919 – Dla szczęścia (For happiness)
- 1919 – Krysta
- 1919 – People with no Tomorrow
- 1918 – Książę Józef Poniatowski (Prince Józef Poniatowski)
- 1918 – Mężczyzna (A Man)
- 1917 – The Polish Dancer
- 1915 – Szpieg (A Spy)
- 1912 – Spodnie jaśnie pana (The Lordsman's trousers)
Producer:
- 1919 – People with no Tomorrow
- 1917 – The Polish Dancer
- 1911 – Antek Klawisz, bohater Powiśla (Antek Klawisz, the Powiśle hero)
Script:
- 1917 – The Polish Dancer
- 1912 – Przesądy (Superstitions)
