Siege
About Siege
Julien Bryan, the only neutral cameraman still in Warsaw when the German army arrived, films the siege. He had come on September 7, 1939, and left on September 21 with the diplomatic corps, the reels in diplomatic luggage. He narrates the two weeks: civilians under bombardment, the city falling. The film opens on his line that he has just returned from Warsaw.
Cast & crew
More about Siege
Bryan shot the footage himself between September 7 and September 21, 1939, and speaks the narration. Frederic Ullman Jr. produced. RKO Radio Pictures distributed the short. Wikidata times it at 11 minutes. Indiana University's 16mm print runs 9 minutes 50 seconds. An early U.S. showing followed in 1940.
Themes
Background
Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Warsaw surrendered at the end of that month. Bryan's two weeks sit inside the siege.
Making
Bryan later founded the International Film Foundation. This short is the Warsaw material he carried out in September 1939.
Look
Bryan operated the camera in the streets, without military clearance, then narrated the shots himself.
Music
Julien Bryan narrates. The Indiana University print is a sound copy.
Preservation
Named to the National Film Registry in 2006. The Library of Congress citation calls it "a unique, horrifying record of the dreadful brutality of war." Indiana University holds a 16mm print.
Notes
- Bryan's narration begins, "I have just returned from Warsaw. For two weeks, in that besieged city, I photographed the struggle and agony of people touched by the madness of war.
- Indiana University lists a 1941 issue date on its 16mm print, alongside RKO and Walter O. Gutlohn.
- It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best One-Reel Short at the 13th Academy Awards in 1941. It did not win.
- In 2006 the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry.
Scenes
- Bryan's camera stays on civilians in the streets during the bombardment.
Quotes
I have just returned from Warsaw.