More Than Life at Stake (Polish: Stawka większa niż życie), 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 (real name Stanisław Kolicki, codename J-23), 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 (aired as part of the anthology series Teatr Telewizji), 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.
Contents
List of episodes
I Know Who You Are (Wiem, kim jesteś) dir. Janusz Morgenstern
Hotel Excelsior (Hotel Excelsior) dir. Andrzej Konic
Top Secret (Ściśle tajne) dir. Janusz Morgenstern
Café Rose (Café Rose) dir. Andrzej Konic
Last Chance (Ostatnia szansa) dir. Andrzej Konic
Iron Cross (Żelazny Krzyż) dir. Janusz Morgenstern
Double Nelson (Podwójny nelson) dir. Janusz Morgenstern
The Great Give-Away (Wielka wsypa) dir. Janusz Morgenstern
Colonel Kraft's ingenious plan (Genialny plan pułkownika Krafta) dir. Janusz Morgenstern
In the Name of the Republic (W imieniu Rzeczypospolitej) dir. Janusz Morgenstern
Password (Hasło) dir. Andrzej Konic
Treason (Zdrada) dir. Andrzej Konic
Without Instructions (Bez instrukcji) dir. Janusz Morgenstern
Edyta dir. Andrzej Konic
Siege (Oblężenie) dir. Andrzej Konic
Operation: "Oak Leaf" (Akcja - "Liść dębu") dir. Janusz Morgenstern
Meeting (Spotkanie) dir. Andrzej Konic
Wanted Gruppenführer Wolf (Poszukiwany Gruppenführer Wolf) dir. Andrzej Konic
In other media
Several episodes of the series were adapted as short stories and collected in printed volumes. The show was also adapted as a comic book series, which gained high popularity and was translated into several languages. 20 volumes of the comic book were released, some of which were direct adaptations of the TV series, while others contained original storylines. The final volume of the comic book series expanded the show's story further, by having Kloss track down Nazi fugitives in Switzerland, shortly after the war.