Hollywood's War with Poland, 1939-1945

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Pola Negri (1894–1987). Photograph courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store. Jan Kiepura (1902–1966). Photograph courtesy of Photofest. Tom Tyler (1903–1954). Photograph courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store. Robert Donat (1905–1958). Photograph courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store. Carole Landis (1919–1948). Photograph courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store. (Above) Joe Radek (Paul Muni), a “Polack born and reborn,” is carried off by police in Black Fury, 1935. Film still courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store. (Below) Manya Novak (Anna Sten) confronts with horror the prospect of marrying a Pole in The Wedding Night, 1935. Her vile father (Sig Ruman) smiles unpleasantly. Film still courtesy of Photofest. (Above) The Pole as college dolt: Boley Bolenciecwcz (Jack Oakie), arms folded, looks perplexed in Rise and Shine, 1941. Film still courtesy of Photofest. (Below) Wadislaw Borowsky (Edgar Barrier, second from left) is about to endanger his squadron in Eagle Squadron, 1942. Film still courtesy of Photofest. (Above) The Pole as mock-heroic cuckold: Joseph Tura (Jack Benny, center) in To Be or Not to Be, 1942. Film still courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store. (Below) The Pole as failed sailor: Steve Boleslavski (Edward G. Robinson, right) in Destroyer, 1943. Film still courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store. The Pole as a crewman who has to be shamed into doing his duty: Johnnie Pulaski (Dane Clark, center) in Action in the North Atlantic, 1943. Film still courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store. The Pole as obnoxious misfit: Joe Winocki (John Garfield, left) in Air Force, 1943. Film still courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store. (Above) The Pole as camp follower: Katja (Nancy Coleman) admires her Nazi paramour’s medals in Edge of Darkness, 1943. Film still courtesy of Photofest. (Below) The Pole as bewildered soldier: Biff Koraski (William Bendix, center) in Abroad with Two Yanks, 1944. Film still courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store. (Above) The Polish aristocracy as worthless reactionaries: Janina (Nancy Coleman, left) is a religious fanatic; Stefan is a hen-pecked naif; his mother, Zophiya (Nazimova, right), is frivolous. Only the doughty English shopgirl, Jennifer (Ida Lupino, center), demonstrates both fortitude and good sense in In Our Time, 1944. Film still courtesy of Photofest. (Below) Marja Pacierkowski (Marsha Hunt) was formerly the fiancée of a fanatical Nazi. The Polish soldier Jan Stys (Trevor Bardette) is the deranged man lurking in the background in None Shall Escape, 1944. Film still courtesy of Photofest. (Above) Polish sergeant Warnicki (Freddie Steele, center) shortly before his breakdown in The Story of G.I. Joe, 1945. Film still courtesy of Photofest. (Below) The Pole as Czech: John Hodiak in Lifeboat, 1944. Film still courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store. A Russian lectures Poles on democracy. A dark-haired Chopin (Cornel Wilde) is seated attentively in the front row in A Song to Remember, 1945. Film still courtesy of Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material Store. Communist screenwriter John Howard Lawson (1894–1977). Photograph courtesy of Photofest. Screenwriter Howard Koch (1902–1995). He gave us the Poles in Mission to Moscow and In Our Time. Photograph courtesy of Photofest. ...