Ashes and Diamonds Film Still

Ashes and Diamonds

Andrzej Wajda

 
Ashes and Diamonds Essential Art House DVD

Essential Art House DVD

1 Disc

SRP: $19.95

Criterion Store price:$15.96

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  • Poland
  • 1958
  • 103 minutes
  • Black and White
  • 1.66:1
  • Polish
  •  
  • Spine #285

SYNOPSIS: On the last day of World War II in a small town somewhere in Poland, Polish exiles of war and the occupying Soviet forces confront the beginning of a new day and a new Poland. In this incendiary environment we find Home Army soldier Maciek Chelmicki, who has been ordered to assassinate an incoming commissar. But a mistake stalls his progress and leads him to Krystyna, a beautiful barmaid who gives him a glimpse of what his life could be. Gorgeously photographed and brilliantly performed, Ashes and Diamonds masterfully interweaves the fate of a nation with that of one man, resulting in one of the most important Polish films of all time.

Cast & CreditsOpen

Cast

Maciek ChelmickiZbigniew Cybulski
KrystynaEwa Krzyzewska
SzczukaWaclaw Zastrzezynski
AndrzejAdam Pawlikowski
DrewnowskiBogumil Kobiela
PorterJan Ciecierski
PieniazekStanislaw Milski
KotowiczArtur Mlodnicki
Mrs. StaniewiczHalina Kwiatkowska
Major FlorianIgnacy Machowski
SlomkaZbigniew Skowronski
StefkaBarbara Krafftowna

Credits

DirectorAndrzej Wajda
ScreenplayAndrzej Wajda and Jerzy Andrzejewski
CinematographyJerzy Wojcik
EditingHalina Nawrocka
Based on the novel byJerzy Andrzejewski
SoundBogdan Bienkowski
Music conducted byFilip Nowak
Production designRoman Mann
CameraKrzsztof Winiewicz, Bogdan Myslinski, Jerzy Szurowski, Zygmunt Krusznicki and Wieslaw Zdort

Disc Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer
  • Audio commentary by film scholar Annette Insdorf
  • Andrzej Wajda: On Ashes and Diamonds, a 35-minute exclusive new interview with the director, second director Janusz Morgenstern, and film critic Jerzy Plazewski
  • Vintage newsreel footage on the making of Ashes and Diamonds
  • Rare behind-the-scenes production photos, publicity stills, and posters
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: A new essay by film scholar Paul Coates

From the CurrentView the Current »

Film Essays

Ashes and Diamonds

By Paul CoatesApril 15, 2005

Ashes and Diamonds has rightly been lauded as one of the finest of postwar East-Central European films, and the most vital work of the Polish School. It is salutary, however Read more »

Ashes and Diamonds

By Daniel GerouldNovember 15, 1994

Andrzej Wajda’s third full-length film, Ashes and Diamonds (Popiol y diament) established the director as a leader of the new Polish cinema. Set in a provincial town on May Read more »