A Retrospective of Pola Negri
at the 18th Polish Film Festival in America

The Polish Film Festival in America in collaboration with the Silent Film Society of Chicago will present a special retrospective of Pola Negri's silent films. The program is curated by Dennis Wolkowicz, Founder & Program Director of the SFSC. The first part of a three year showcase will begin with a new feature-length documentary LIFE IS A DREAM IN CINEMA: POLA NEGRI with its director Mariusz Kotowski attending Q&As session which follows the screening on Monday, November 6 at 8:45 pm. in Gallery Theatre at the Society for Arts, 1112 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. From Tuesday, November 7 to Thursday, November 9 at 8:00 pm. three popular films of Polish-born star will be shown at the newly reopened historic Portage Theatre, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago:

November 7

WOMAN OF THE WORLD (1925)
Dir. Malcolm St. Clair
Pola Negri stars in this sly comedy-drama as an Italian Countess Elnora Natatorini who flees Europe after the breakup of her latest love affair. The Countess ends up at a distant cousin's house in Maple Valley - somewhere in the American Midwest. No sooner does the Countess arrive in Maple Valley than trouble starts. She catches the eye of a lovesick young man and the local District Attorney who is on crusade against sin. Natatorini enjoys toying with both men as she slinks (wild costumes with tons of beads) through a series of parties where yokel guests pay 25 cents to "Meet the Countess". Wearing lots of makeup and outrageous costumes, Negri has fun at the worldly woman who drinks, smokes in public, and (gasp!) has a tattoo on her forearm. The film pokes fun at both the worldly Europeans as well as the rubes in mid-America.

November 8

BARBED WIRE (1927)
Dir. Rowland V. Lee, Mauritz Stiller
In 1914 France, pastoral life on the Moreau farm is interrupted by war. Son Andre joins the army, a P.O.W. camp is built on the farm, and daughter Mona feels only hatred towards the enemy. Arriving German prisoners cast approving eyes on Mona. However worsening war news keeps her hostile... until Oscar Muller, prisoner working on the farm, proves himself a good man by his actions. As her hatred melts and the bond between Mona and Oscar strengthens, so does the neighbors’ vituperation; even with the war’s end, tragic results seem inevitable...

November 9

HOTEL IMPERIAL (1927)
Dir. Mauritz Stiller
Set in 1917 Budapest, six Hungarian soldiers ride into a frontier town and find it occupied by Russians. Lieutenant Almasy is forced to take a refuge in a small hotel, where he is hidden by the chambermaid. The two fall in love. But a Russian general makes the hotel his headquarters and sets sights on the maid. In addition, the Austrian must find out the identity of a spy who is feeding the Russians military information that could lead to the destruction of the Austrian army.
The film is considered the only Hollywood work of Mauritz Stiller to have survived complete. The Swedish director was fired by Paramount on the set of BARBED WIRE and died a year later.

Apollonia Chalupiec (aka Pola Negri) was the first European actress who succeeded in Hollywood. She was born in Lipno probably in 1894. By the time she was 17, Pola was a stage star in Warsaw theatres. Her first film role was in a Polish production SLAVE TO HER SENSES (1914). In 1917 she left to Berlin where played in Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater. She was hired by Union Film, later known as UFA, the largest German film production company, and teamed up with actor-turned-director Ernst Lubitsch whom she met at Reinhardt. The Negri-Lubitsch duo was very successful and the roles Pola played were exotic, sexy, strong women. One of their films, MADAME DUBARRY (1919) became an absolute sensation in Europe and was optioned as PASSION for exhibition in America. The film was so well received that both were given a contract to make a number of films in Hollywood. FORBIDDEN PARADISE (1924), made with Lubitsch, and HOTEL IMPERIAL (1927) were her bestselling films. Pola was engaged to Charlie Chaplin before she met and fell in love with Rudolph Valentino. With her vamp roles she rivaled Theda Bara. However a series of misfortunes conspired to end of her career in Hollywood. The spectacle that she put on when she threw herself on the late Valentino's coffin in 1926 changed public mood towards her. The Hays Office codes which did not allow filming the very traits that made her a sex-bomb star in Europe. And finally, her harsh voice and thick accent seemed not to come across too well when the "talkie" revolution continued. When her contract with Paramount expired, she returned to France and Germany. In 1929 she completed a British film A WOMAN HE SCORNED, one of her best. She eventually made films for UFA, which was under Nazi management. Her splendid MAZURKA (1935) was Hitler's favorite film and the highest-grossing Nazi film ever outside of Germany. The actress left Germany in 1938 opposing to the Nazi propaganda and after Nazi officials had labeled her as having part Jewish ancestry. Hitler personally overturned the ban that also contributed to rumors of their affair. In 1941 she came back to the States penniless. She made the movie HI DIDDLE DIDDLE (1943). Her next and final film was THE MOON-SPINNERS (1964). Retiring to San Antonio, Texas with her musician friend Margaret West at her side, she died in 1987.

All silent films will be accompanied by Jay Warren, Chicago's foremost silent film organist and regularly featured performer for the Silent Film Society of Chicago. This past summer he was photoplay organist for the SFSC's acclaimed annual Silent Summer Film Festival. In 2005 he accompanied the great Harold Lloyd during a festival honoring the silent comedian at Chicago's Music Box Theatre. In 2004, he performed his own score for the Oscar Micheaux silent classic Within Our Gates (1919) at the historic Central Park Theatre. Jay is a guest organist each fall at the University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Memorial Chapel - one of only several artists ever to accompany a film at that location.

The original prints are provided by Joe Yranski, David Shepard and Jon Mirsalis.

General admission tickets are $ 10.00 per feature films and $ 8.50 for documentary films ($ 9.00 & $ 7.50 seniors & students). Tickets are available in advance by phone at 773-486-9612 or online at www.pffamerica.com; also available at the venues one hour prior to the screenings.

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