| Knights of the Teutonic OrderKrzyżacy | |
| Director: | Aleksander Ford |
| Producer: | Zygmunt Król |
| Screenplay: | Aleksander Ford Jerzy Stefan Stawiński |
| Music: | Kazimierz Serocki |
| Cinematography: | Mieczysław Jahoda |
| Starring: | Grażyna Staniszewska Urszula Modrzyńska Mieczysław Kalenik Aleksander Fogiel |
| Studio: | Zespół Filmowy |
| Runtime: | 166 minutes |
| Country: | People's Republic of Poland |
| Language: | Polish |
| Budget: | zl 38,000,000 |
| Gross: | zl 100,000,000 (by March 1961)[1] |
Knights of the Teutonic Order (Polish: Krzyżacy), also known as Knights of the Black Cross, is a 1960 Polish historical epic film adapted from a 1900 novel by Nobel laureate, Henryk Sienkiewicz. Directed by Aleksander Ford, it is one of the most successful movies in the cinema of Poland.
The plot is situated in late-14th century and early-15th century Poland and centers on the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War and the climactic Battle of Grunwald in 1410. For the battle scenes, 15,000 extras were hired.[2] The release date of 15 July 1960 was also the battle's 550th anniversary.
The film attracted huge audiences: it sold 14 million tickets in its first four years of release and had more than thirty million viewers as of 2000, making it the most popular film ever screened in Poland.[3] [4] [5] It was later exported to 46 foreign countries,[6] selling 29.6 million tickets in the Soviet Union[7] and a further 2.6 million tickets in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.[8] It was the most successful Polish film internationally[9] and a Polish submission to the 33rd Academy Awards.