''The Codes'' is the English title for ''Szyfry'', a Polish film released in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo is ...

, directed by Wojciech Has.

Plot

Tadeusz (

Jan Kreczmar Jan Kreczmar (6 May 1908 in Warsaw - 29 August 1972 in Warsaw) was a Polish theatre and film actor.Jan Kreczmar
at ...

) is a Polish veteran of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

who fled to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

at the end of the war, leaving behind his wife Zofia ( Irena Eichlerówna) and two sons, Maciek ( Zbigniew CybulskiDirectory of World Cinema, Volume 8 edited by Adam Bingham, v. 8 p. 15) and Jedrek, who disappeared when he was 17 years old. Tadeusz returns to

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...

to discover if Jedrek may be alive. His wife and son Maciek were members of resistance – was it possible that the second son may have been the traitor? During Maciek's struggle to explain to his father their history during

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 193 ...

, questions arise concerning collaboration with the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one or ...

and retribution by the

Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II, resistance movement in Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed i ...

. Has pictures the mystical lost boy in a dark fairy-tale forest, full of the war's ghosts and wholesale executions. The hypnotic quality of these excursions foreshadows the mesmerizing passages of Has' later film, '' The Hour-Glass Sanatorium''.

Cast

Jan Kreczmar Jan Kreczmar (6 May 1908 in Warsaw - 29 August 1972 in Warsaw) was a Polish theatre and film actor.Jan Kreczmar
at ...

as Tadeusz * Zbigniew Cybulski as Maciek *

Ignacy Gogolewski Ignacy Gogolewski (17 June 1931 – 15 May 2022) was a Polish film actor. He appeared in more than 30 films. Selected filmography * '' Three Stories'' (1953) * ''Tonight a City Will Die'' (1961) * '' The Codes'' (1966) * ''Stawka większa niż ...

as Doctor Gross * Irena Horecka as Aunt Helena *

Janusz Klosinski Janusz () is a masculine Polish given name. It is also the shortened form of January and Januarius. People * Janusz Akermann (born 1957), Polish painter *Janusz Bardach, Polish gulag survivor and physician *Janusz Bielański, Roman Catholic prie ...

as Antiquary *

Adam Dzieszynski Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

as Receptionist in 'Hotel Polski' * Irena Eichlerówna as Zofia *

Janusz Gajos Janusz Gajos (; born 23 September 1939) is a Polish film, television and theatre actor as well as pedagogue and photographer. Professor of Theatre Arts and an Honorary Doctor of the National Film School in Łódź, he is considered one of the gr ...

as White monk * Barbara Krafftówna as Jadwiga * Zofia Merle as Forester's daughter *

Kazimierz Opaliński Kazimierz Opaliński (22 February 1890 – 6 June 1979) was a Polish stage and film actor. He appeared in more than forty films between 1936 and 1975. Selected filmography References External links * 1890 births 1979 deaths Polis ...

as Pieczara *Irena Orska as Neighbor

References

External links

* 1966 films Polish war films Films directed by Wojciech Has 1960s Polish-language films {{Poland-film-stub

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links