RETURN TO Jadwiga Plucińska In Palaces and Manor HousesSomewhat similar to Palaces/Pałace(1946) by Natalia Brzozowska, this film starts with archival pictures of pre-war aristocratic homes to then document their post-war conversion into venues of public use. Typically of its time, the edited footage plays to a voice-over commentary.
First, we see the former palace of the Radziwił family in Nieborów which, as the narrator informs us, has been repossessed by the National Museum. A few observational shots of a group touring the place are followed by a sequence from a classical music performance. To quickly identify the visitors as representative of previously marginalised groups, we see them dressed in traditional peasant costumes. The commentator also informs that the concert on the screen is played for kids from local villages.
Next, the camera shows a medieval castle that has been passed on to the People’s University. Here Plucińska offers brief observations of vocational classes in beekeeping, geography, anatomy and farming that intercut with students playing Ping-Pong. This positive image becomes disrupted with shots from over-crowded dormitories for female students, which in 1948 were probably still considered an improvement on the living conditions available to the majority of the population.
The remaining aristocratic palaces in the film are all to serve the young generation. Some require updating and the camera quickly shows images of construction and redecoration work; others have already been turned into schools and cultural centres.
The last sequence in the film comes from a nursery located in the former residence of the Potocki family. There, the film closes with a group of children greeting a Christmas tree by singing traditional Polish carols.,The children’s voices applaud the gifts, which the nation received from the Communist government when the capital of the rich was re-distributed to serve the common good.
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