Knights of the Teutonic Order (film)

Knights of the Teutonic Order (Polish: Krzyżacy) is a 1960 Polish film directed by Aleksander Ford based on the novel of the same name by Henryk Sienkiewicz.

The plot is situated in the late-14th century and early-15th century Poland and centers on the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War and the final Battle of Grunwald. 15,000 extras were employed to create the battle scenes. The film attracted to cinema masses of viewers and remains one of the most attended films in Polish history: it sold 2 million tickets within several months, 14 million after four years and as of 1987, it had some 32,315,695 admissions. It was also exported to forty-six foreign countries, and sold 29.6 million tickets in the Soviet Union and 2,650,700 in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It was a Polish submission to the 33rd Academy Awards.

It was released on 15 July 1960, the 550th anniversary of the battle of Grunwald.

Cast

Grażyna Staniszewska as Danusia Jurandówna

Urszula Modrzyńska as Jagienka ze Zgorzelic

Mieczysław Kalenik as Zbyszko z Bogdańca

Aleksander Fogiel as Maćko z Bogdańca

Andrzej Szalawski as Jurand ze Spychowa

Leon Niemczyk as Fulko de Lorche

Henryk Borowski as Zygfryd de Löwe

Mieczysław Voit as Kuno von Lichtenstein

Tadeusz Białoszczyński as Duke Janusz I of Warsaw

Stanisław Jasiukiewicz as Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights Ulrich von Jungingen

Emil Karewicz as King Władysław Jagiełło

Józef Kostecki as Lithuanian duke Witold

Janusz Strachocki as Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights Konrad von Jungingen

Lucyna Winnicka as Duchess Anna Danuta, wife of Janusz I of Warsaw

Cezary Julski as Zawisza Czarny

Jerzy Kozakiewicz as Cztan z Rogowa

Janusz Paluszkiewicz as royal marshall

Jerzy Pichelski as Powala of Taczew