Władysław Dworkowski was a film producer in the pre-War period,
who owned and ran the Dworkowski Film-Production Company in Bydgoszcz.
He was born in Bydgoszcz, in 1878. Later he also became a film and theatre Director, and an academic teacher. He was the owner of a network of cinemas and represented Polish cinema owners in Europe.
He studied at the Royal School of Drama in Berlin and worked as a Director at the Municipal Theatre in Bremen for many years. Later, he was an academic teacher at the University of Berlin. When Poland regained its independence, he came back. In 1920, he settled in Poznań and then moved to Bydgoszcz. In 1926, Dworkowski founded the Dworkowski Film-Production Company, which was situated at ul. Gdańska 165. He also ran the Dewako film-video shop, and took over a network of cinemas in Toruń and Bydgoszcz. He was a delegate of Związek Polskich Zrzeszeń Teatrów Świetlnych (the Association of Polish Unions of Light Theatres) for the International Congress of Cinematography in Berlin.
He made films as co-productions with partners in Warsaw, Germany, and Austria. The years 1928-1930 were definitely the best period in the history of the Company. The first film produced by the Company was Magdalena directed by Konstanty Meglicki, which was called an “erotic and high-society drama.” The film premièred on 18th May 1929, in Bydgoszcz. The next film produced by the Company was Z dnia na dzień (1929), based on a novel by Ferdynand Goetl about the Polish–Soviet War, directed by Józef Lejtes. The film was screened in Germany and Frances, under a different title – Maroussia.
The third film the Company produced was Przewodnik z Zakopanego, a Polish-German co-production. The film was shot in outdoor locations in the Tatra Mountains, and its title changed on numerous occasions. This film ruined Dworkowski financially and forced him to shut the Company down. He died after the War, in Bolesławiec, Lower Silesia, where worked as the Director in the local “Orzeł” cinema.
Unfortunately, no copy of the films produced by Dworkowski Film has survived to this day.
Selected filmography
- 1929 – „Magdalena”
- 1929 – „Z dnia na dzień”
- 1930 – „Przewodnik z Zakopanego”
