Die Kreuzritter

I have seen this movie many years ago. This movie to my knowledge is one of the best Knights movies that ever been made. The plot is fantastic and the ending is a very sad one. This movie shows to what extreme some people would go to avenge even if they are in the wrong. A great movie and not enough acclaimed to my satisfaction.

Polish cinema is always good at adapting heroic war films like Potop or Ogniem I Mieczem. This one, based upon the book of the Noble Prize winner, Henryk Sienkiewycz, is a real hit. The directors managed to adapt this large and serious historical novel to a screen version. The plot tells about the wars between Poland and the Knights who were called the Crerss Bearers and lived in old Prussia nearby. The thrilling story tells about two brave and valiant Polish knights, Macko and Zbyszek. This story has everything - love story, tragedy of the Polish people being oppressed by the knights of Prussia, the heroic struggle, and on top of it all, the Grunwald Battle, that was the deafening defeat of the Prussian knights and lead to the changes in their history after that. Music, operators' work, actors' play, especially the parts of Henryk Borowski and Mieczyslaw Voit are impeccable. This is a fine example of the classic Polish battle movies.

I saw the German dubbed version of this movie over 20 years ago, when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old. Nonetheless, I have most vivid memories of this movie. This is a rare masterpiece, that sparks every little boys imagination, simply spectacular. I would love to see this movie again but so far no luck finding it on video.

It is a good film and - as some reviews pointed out - of quite a big importance (and sentimental value!) to Poles. As every nation, Poles delight in productions illuminating the splendor years or turning points in their history, so the film has a guaranteed place in the pantheon of Polish films. It is begging for a remake though. If it is to be equally enjoyable for younger generations technical anachronisms and especially lengthy scenes need to be taken care of. The plot is great, so it definitely deserves a lifting. Apart from the extraordinary number of horses and extras, and Guiness record long battle scenes the film is famous for 2 amazing goofs: 1. In one of the battles, far beyond the herd of knights, you can see a crew car happily passing on the horizon 2. During the main battle of Grunwald scene (1410!) an electric watch can be seen on the actor's wrist as the Polish king zestfully waves his sword fighting his opponents.

KNIGHTS OF THE TEUTONIC ORDER, based on the novel by Nobel winner Henryk Sienkiewicz, is full of intensely melodramatic conflicts and nonstop action; Sienkiewicz's fiction was more in the mold of THE THREE MUSKETEERS and IVANHOE than WAR AND PEACE, and the source material makes for a highly entertaining movie. The epic scope is quite impressive (fully comparable to Hollywood epics of the same era, like QUO VADIS or SPARTACUS). The setting will be unfamiliar to many audiences (Poland and Prussia in the middle ages), but the plight of the Polish knight Jurand as he and his family are tormented by the dastardly Teutonic Knights is emotionally involving. I saw this in 2005 on a not-so-good video from Polart (washed-out color, poor subtitles), but I've recently seen a DVD on offer, which I hope will have higher quality; it's a handsomely made film that deserves restoration and a wider audience.