The first feature film of the Polish cinematography after World War II.
As a huge box office hit attracting an impressive audience that received it with wild enthusiasm, the film triggered outrage of the communist regime and was ferociously vilified by critics.
The story of Warsaw and its inhabitants during World War II shown as retrospections related to the title “forbidden songs”.
Roman Tokarski, a musician and soldier, who was formerly actively involved in conspiracy, talks about the years of Hitler’s occupation with a friend who has just returned from England. The “forbidden songs” serve as a pretext for further memories. Some are funny, some patriotic and some sad yet all accompany the inhabitants of Warsaw in the hardest time, uniting the nation against its enemies, reassuring and bringing hope… The adventures of Roman and his sister Halina intertwine with fragments showing situations and typical of the wartime.
The film action includes authentic events from the time of occupation, such as the concert on the steps of the Warsaw Philharmonic.
Originally, the film director Leonard Buczkowski and screenwriter Ludwik Starski intended to make a documentary about songs performed during the war by street artists. However, having analyzed the collected resources, they decided to make a feature anthology about songs from the time of occupation consisting of several unconnected episodes. The decision that “Zakazane piosenki” would be a classic feature film was made later. Eventually, action continuity and main characters were added to the film.
A few months after the premiere, distribution of “Zakazane piosenki” was put on hold and corrections were implemented in the film. The feature format was changed, some scenes were removed and some other complemented with politically correct endings. The second version of the film, conveying a much stronger propaganda message, hit the cinema screens in November 1948.
