Panienka z chmur

The film is a light comedy of manners, which was typical Polish film production from the inter-War period.

It tells a story about the twists and turns of the love life between Ada and Jurek. Ada Roszkowska, the only daughter of a great landowner, has been in love with Jerzy Łącki, a young architect, since her childhood. At the same time, she is dreaming about winning laurels in sport.
After failing to get good results in tennis, she chooses rowing as her new point of interest, but she is not successful in this sports discipline either. With her mind focused on winning in sport, she forgets about Jurek. Feeling lonely, Jurek commits himself to work and spends whatever free time he has left in the company of Irena. Seeing this, Ada rediscovers her affection for Jurek and keeps thinking about him.

The only existing fragment of the film was recovered by Szymon Spandowski, a journalist from Toruń. He has written about the film on his website Szymon Spandowski, where we can find a number of quotations from pre-War newspapers, which discuss the process of making and distributing the film.

Toruń and Pluskowęsy

Thanks to the materials collected by journalist Szymon Spandowski from Toruń, we now know the locations in Kujawsko-Pomorskie used to shoot some of the scenes in the film.
In Panienka z chmur (The lady from the clouds), we can see the following locations:

• outdoor locations in Toruń
• the Vistula River with a rower passing under the Józef Piłsudski bridge
• the Palace in Pluskowęsy, in the Chełmża district, and several shots taken in outdoor locations there
• and a boat harbour (most probably, it is today’s Port Zimowy/the AZS marina).

Trivia

• In 1929, Bernard Marwiński founded Marwin-Film, the only film-production company in the history of Toruń.
  The company produced only one film, which was Panienka z chmur.
  The film-production company was situated in the so-called Park Wiktoria at ul. Grudziądzka 1-3. Today, this spot is occupied by the Department of Physics of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.
• Bogusław Magiera, who performed in the film under the pseudonym Lech Szeliga, became so fascinated with cinema, that he bought a camera 8 years later, and started documenting everyday life in Toruń and Warsaw. The films made by Magiera were later discovered by the same Szymon Spandowski. Then they were digitalised, in cooperation with the University Library in Toruń.
• According to various sources, the film was also shot in the regions of Wielkopolska, Śląsk, and Pomorze.

Information on the film

Panienka z chmur / The lady from the clouds

Poland 1931

Directed by: Bernard Marwiński

Cinematography: Stanisław Witkiewicz

Produced by: Marwin – Film Toruń – Poznań

Cast: Lili Dorey, Tom Łącki, Lech Szeliga, and others.