More Than Life At Stake
More Than Life at Stake, also known as Stakes Larger Than Life and Playing for High Stakes is a Polish black and white TV series about the adventures of a Polish secret agent in Soviet service, captain Hans Kloss, who acts as a double agent in the Abwehr during Second World War in occupied Poland.
Its precursor was a continuing television play of the same name, broadcast live in 1965 by Telewizja Polska. 14 installments were made, with the two main characters, the protagonist, Abwehr Hauptmann Hans Kloss, and his key antagonist, SS-Obersturmführer Hermann Brunner, portrayed respectively by actors Stanisław Mikulski and Emil Karewicz. The popularity of the play led to the creation of the TV series; Mikulski and Karewicz returned to portray Kloss and Brunner.
The series was filmed from March 1967 to October 1968. There were 18 episodes, 9 of which were directed by Janusz Morgenstern and the other 9 by Andrzej Konic. The show was very popular in Poland, the USSR, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. Re-runs are regularly broadcast on Polish TV.
Both the character of Hans Kloss, and that of Max von Stierlitz, the protagonist of the similarly themed Russian TV series Seventeen Moments of Spring, were allegedly inspired by the real-life exploits of Nikolai Kuznetsov, who successfully infiltrated Nazi armed forces under the guise of a German officer.
Cast
- Stanisław Mikulski - main role
- Emil Karewicz
- Bronisław Pawlik
- Mieczysław Stoor
- Seweryn Butrym
- Janina Borońska
- Krzysztof Chamiec
- Alicja Zommer
- Lucyna Winnicka
- Tadeusz Bartosik
- Andrzej Konic
- Mieczysław Kalenik
- Igor Śmiałowski
- Leon Niemczyk
- Lech Ordon
- Marian Opania
- Tadeusz Kalinowski
- Tadeusz Schmidt
- Krystyna Feldman
- Alina Janowska
- Janusz Bylczyński
- Edmund Fetting
- Leon Pietraszkiewicz
- Mieczysław Voit
- Iga Cembrzyńska
- Ignacy Gogolewski
- Ewa Wiśniewska
- Mariusz Dmochowski
- Piotr Pawłowski
- Jolanta Zykun
- Władysław Hańcza
- Gustaw Lutkiewicz
- Ignacy Machowski
- Wiesława Mazurkiewicz
- Henryk Bąk
- Adam Pawlikowski
- Feliks Żukowski
- Czesław Wołłejko
- Janusz Kłosiński
- Bogusław Sochnacki
- Zdzisław Mrożewski
- Maciej Damięcki
- Józef Nalberczak
- Joanna Jędryka
- Jan Englert
- August Kowalczyk
- Bolesław Płotnicki
- Władysław Kowalski
- Stanisław Niwiński
- Jerzy Trela
- Józef Nowak
- Jerzy Nowak
- Lidia Korsakówna
- Eliasz Kuziemski
- Leszek Herdegen
- Leonard Pietraszak
- Edward Linde-Lubaszenko
- Zdzisław Kuźniar
- Igor Przegrodzki
- Beata Tyszkiewicz
- Ryszard Filipski
- Jerzy Block
- Anna Seniuk
- Witold Pyrkosz
- Zygmunt Malanowicz
- Zdzisław Maklakiewicz
- Ryszard Kotys
- Henryk Hunko
- Aleksandra Zawieruszanka
- Józef Kostecki
- Stanisław Zaczyk
- Andrzej Herder
- Józef Łodyński
- Halina Kossobudzka
- Jerzy Kaliszewski
- Janusz Paluszkiewicz
- Stanisław Jasiukiewicz
- Andrzej Krasicki
- Teresa Kamińska
- Barbara Burska
- Eugeniusz Priwieziencew
- Barbara Brylska
- Barbara Horawianka
- Barbara Rachwalska
- Tobias Yves Zintel
- Stanisław Milski
- Zygmunt Zintel
- Aleksander Fogiel
- Janusz Zakrzeński
- Zygmunt Kęstowicz
- Józef Duriasz
- Saturnin Żórawski
- Wieńczysław Gliński
- Tadeusz Pluciński
- Zbigniew Zapasiewicz
- Ryszard Pietruski
- Włodzimierz Skoczylas
- Barbara Sołtysik
- Wiktor Grotowicz
- Ferdynand Matysik
- Zbigniew Józefowicz
List of episodes
- I Know Who You Are dir. Janusz Morgenstern
- Hotel Excelsior dir. Andrzej Konic
- Top Secret dir. Janusz Morgenstern
- Café Rose dir. Andrzej Konic
- Last Chance dir. Andrzej Konic
- Iron Cross dir. Janusz Morgenstern
- Double Nelson dir. Janusz Morgenstern
- The Great Give-Away dir. Janusz Morgenstern
- Colonel Kraft's ingenious plan dir. Janusz Morgenstern
- In the Name of the Republic dir. Janusz Morgenstern
- Password dir. Andrzej Konic
- Treason dir. Andrzej Konic
- Without Instructions dir. Janusz Morgenstern
- Edyta dir. Andrzej Konic
- Siege dir. Andrzej Konic
- Operation: "Oak Leaf" dir. Janusz Morgenstern
- Meeting dir. Andrzej Konic
- Wanted Gruppenführer Wolf dir. Andrzej Konic
In other media