Knights of the Teutonic Order (1960)

Original title

Krzyżacy

Directed by

Aleksander Ford

Genre

adventure film, war film, romance film

Country

Polish People's Republic

Runtime

2h 46m

Rating

7.2 of 10 from 51 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

In late medieval Poland, a young knight seeks revenge against the Teutonic Order for wrongs done to his family. The story builds to the massive Battle of Grunwald where Polish and Lithuanian forces clash with the Teutonic knights.

epichistoricalpatrioticgrand-scalebattle-filledromanticsoberclimactic

What happens

Knights of the Teutonic Order (Polish: Krzyżacy), also known as Knights of the Black Cross, is a 1960 Polish historical epic film adapted from a 1900 novel by Nobel laureate, Henryk Sienkiewicz. Directed by Aleksander Ford, it is one of the most successful movies in the cinema of Poland. The plot is situated in late-14th century and early-15th century Poland and centers on the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War and the climactic Battle of Grunwald in 1410. For the battle scenes, 15,000 extras were hired. The release date of 15 July 1960 was also the battle's 550th anniversary. The film attracted huge audiences: it sold 14 million tickets in its first four years of release and had more than thirty million viewers as of 2000, making it the most popular film ever screened in Poland. It was later exported to 46 foreign countries, selling 29.6 million tickets in the Soviet Union and a further 2.6 million tickets in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It was the most successful Polish film internationally and a Polish submission to the 33rd Academy Awards. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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