Soundtrack of 1930 Polish film found in Italy

A 1930 film called "Janko Muzykant" (Yanko the Musician), an adaptation of a novel by Nobel prize-winning Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz, was for many years screened as a silent movie. Now the soundtrack to the film has been discovered in a private collection in Italy.

Frame from "Janko Muzykant" (1930), directed by Ryszard Ordyński.

Source: FOTOTEKA FINA

Directed by Ryszard Ordyński, Yanko the musician is a continuation of the novel by Sienkiewicz, in which the author portrays the tragic fate of a talented country boy who gets beaten to death for daring to touch a violin in a manor house.

In Ordyński 's film Yanko does not die but, after many twists of fate, manages to pursue a career as a violinist.

The film, now in the care of specialists from the National Film Archive - Audiovisual Institute (FINA), is waiting for its sound premiere.

Michał Pieńkowski from FINA talks about the significance of the discovery of the lost soundtrack.