Pietro Wyzej / The Apartment Above (1937)
Direction: Leon Trystan
Screenplay: Emanuel Schlechter, Ludwik Starski, Eugeniusz Bodo
Cast: Eugeniusz Bodo, Helena Grossówna, Józef Orwid
Leon Trystan's Pietro Wyzej (alternately known in the US as The Apartment Above, Neighbors, and The Neighbor from the Next Floor) is a delightful Polish comedy about two men — one older (Józef Orwid), the other younger (Eugeniusz Bodo) — who happen to have the same name.
The two live on opposite floors of the same apartment building and have an acrimonious relationship. The younger man is a radio announcer and the leader of a swing orchestra; the older man is a classical musician. A string of zany misunderstandings and mistaken identities ensues when the older man's niece (Helena Grossówna) arrives for a visit.
The charming The Apartment Above was made very much in the tradition of American screwball comedy. (And I'm dying to see more of Eugeniusz Bodo who was a really pleasant actor.)
Note from the editor: According to several online sources, Bodo was arrested as a spy during World War II and sent to a Soviet Gulag where he died of hunger in 1943.
Reviewed at Cinesation 2009
© James Bazen
