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Release: August 24, 2021

$7.99

Description

A milestone of Polish cinema, this electrifying international sensation by Andrzej Wajda—the final film in his celebrated war trilogy—entwines the story of one man’s moral crisis with the fate of a nation. In a small Polish town on the final day of World War II, Maciek (the coolly charismatic Zbigniew Cybulski), a fighter in the underground anti-Communist resistance movement, has orders to assassinate an incoming commissar. But when he meets and falls for a young barmaid (Ewa Krzyzewska), he begins to question his commitment to a cause that requires him to risk his life. Ashes and Diamonds’ lustrous monochrome cinematography—wreathed in shadows, smoke, and fog—and spectacularly choreographed set pieces lend a breathtaking visual dynamism to this urgent, incendiary vision of a country at a crossroads in its struggle for self-determination. BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack Audio commentary from 2004 featuring film scholar Annette Insdorf New video essay by Insdorf on the film’s legacy Andrzej Wajda: On “Ashes and Diamonds,” a 2005 program featuring director Andrzej Wajda, second director Janusz Morgenstern, and film critic Jerzy Plazewski Archival newsreel footage on the making of the film New English subtitle translation PLUS: An essay by film scholar Paul Coates Top About this item Similar From the Brand Reviews Ashes and Diamonds (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Release: July 28, 2026

$7.99

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*This listing is for the standard edition version and does NOT come with a limited edition slipcase!* HOW TO BE LOVED During a trip from Warsaw to Paris an actress reflects on the last few years of her life during the German occupation while hiding a fellow actor wanted for murder. Based on a novel by Kazimierz Brandys and told in a series of vignettes, Wojciech Has’s psychological tragedy marks the end of the Polish Film School and an important transition in the Polish director’s career. THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT Set during the Napoleonic wars, the film follows the exploits of Alfons von Worden, an officer traveling through the Sierra Mountains and with each passing traveler, the interweaving stories grow stranger. One of Wojciech Has’s most acclaimed films, this surrealist cult epic has attracted support from Luis Buñuel, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and even Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. THE HOURGLASS SANATORIUM Józef visits his dying father at a remote mental institution where time itself doesn’t seem to exist and the line between dreams and memories become indistinguishable. Adapted from a selection of short stories from Polish-jewish writer Bruno Schultz, Wojciech J. Has’s masterpiece of surrealist Polish cinema is a phantasmagoric look at the collective trauma of the Holocaust. Bonus Features: HOW TO BE LOVED (1963) 1. Introduction by Columbia University Film Professor and author Annette Insdorf 2. Critical Assessment from Annette Insdorf 3. Interview with film critic Sebastian Smoliński 4. Essay by writer Michael Brooke THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT (1965) 1. Introduction by Columbia University Film Professor and author Annette Insdorf 2. Critical Assessment from Annette Insdorf 3. Interview with film critic Sebastian Smoliński 4. Essay by Annette Insdorf THE HOURGLASS SANATORIUM (1973) 1. 1. Introduction by Columbia University Film Professor and author Annette Insdorf 2. Critical Assessment from Annette Insdorf 3. Interview with film critic Sebastian Smoliński 4. Essay by writer Samm Deighan Three By Wojciech J. Has [Blu-ray Set] Three By Wojciech J. Has Set Similar From the Brand Questions Reviews

Release: July 28, 2026

$7.99

Description

*This listing is for the standard edition version and does NOT come with a limited edition slipcase!* HOW TO BE LOVED During a trip from Warsaw to Paris an actress reflects on the last few years of her life during the German occupation while hiding a fellow actor wanted for murder. Based on a novel by Kazimierz Brandys and told in a series of vignettes, Wojciech Has’s psychological tragedy marks the end of the Polish Film School and an important transition in the Polish director’s career. THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT Set during the Napoleonic wars, the film follows the exploits of Alfons von Worden, an officer traveling through the Sierra Mountains and with each passing traveler, the interweaving stories grow stranger. One of Wojciech Has’s most acclaimed films, this surrealist cult epic has attracted support from Luis Buñuel, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and even Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. THE HOURGLASS SANATORIUM Józef visits his dying father at a remote mental institution where time itself doesn’t seem to exist and the line between dreams and memories become indistinguishable. Adapted from a selection of short stories from Polish-jewish writer Bruno Schultz, Wojciech J. Has’s masterpiece of surrealist Polish cinema is a phantasmagoric look at the collective trauma of the Holocaust. Bonus Features: HOW TO BE LOVED (1963) 1. Introduction by Columbia University Film Professor and author Annette Insdorf 2. Critical Assessment from Annette Insdorf 3. Interview with film critic Sebastian Smoliński 4. Essay by writer Michael Brooke THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT (1965) 1. Introduction by Columbia University Film Professor and author Annette Insdorf 2. Critical Assessment from Annette Insdorf 3. Interview with film critic Sebastian Smoliński 4. Essay by Annette Insdorf THE HOURGLASS SANATORIUM (1973) 1. 1. Introduction by Columbia University Film Professor and author Annette Insdorf 2. Critical Assessment from Annette Insdorf 3. Interview with film critic Sebastian Smoliński 4. Essay by writer Samm Deighan Three By Wojciech J. Has [Blu-ray Set] Three By Wojciech J. Has Set Similar From the Brand Questions Reviews

Release: July 28, 2026

$7.99

Description

*This listing is for the standard edition version and does NOT come with a limited edition slipcase!* HOW TO BE LOVED During a trip from Warsaw to Paris an actress reflects on the last few years of her life during the German occupation while hiding a fellow actor wanted for murder. Based on a novel by Kazimierz Brandys and told in a series of vignettes, Wojciech Has’s psychological tragedy marks the end of the Polish Film School and an important transition in the Polish director’s career. THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT Set during the Napoleonic wars, the film follows the exploits of Alfons von Worden, an officer traveling through the Sierra Mountains and with each passing traveler, the interweaving stories grow stranger. One of Wojciech Has’s most acclaimed films, this surrealist cult epic has attracted support from Luis Buñuel, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and even Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. THE HOURGLASS SANATORIUM Józef visits his dying father at a remote mental institution where time itself doesn’t seem to exist and the line between dreams and memories become indistinguishable. Adapted from a selection of short stories from Polish-jewish writer Bruno Schultz, Wojciech J. Has’s masterpiece of surrealist Polish cinema is a phantasmagoric look at the collective trauma of the Holocaust. Bonus Features: HOW TO BE LOVED (1963) 1. Introduction by Columbia University Film Professor and author Annette Insdorf 2. Critical Assessment from Annette Insdorf 3. Interview with film critic Sebastian Smoliński 4. Essay by writer Michael Brooke THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT (1965) 1. Introduction by Columbia University Film Professor and author Annette Insdorf 2. Critical Assessment from Annette Insdorf 3. Interview with film critic Sebastian Smoliński 4. Essay by Annette Insdorf THE HOURGLASS SANATORIUM (1973) 1. 1. Introduction by Columbia University Film Professor and author Annette Insdorf 2. Critical Assessment from Annette Insdorf 3. Interview with film critic Sebastian Smoliński 4. Essay by writer Samm Deighan Three By Wojciech J. Has [Blu-ray Set] Three By Wojciech J. Has Set Similar From the Brand Questions Reviews

Release: June 17, 2026

$8.99(Not Free for Subscribers)

Description

At the height of the Napoleonic wars, a Polish soldier seeks refuge in a deserted house in the Spanish town of Saragossa, and discovers a mysterious manuscript written in a language he doesn’t speak. When enemy Spanish officers arrive to arrest him, one of the soldiers realises that the book appears to tell the story of his grandfather, Alfonse Van Worden (Zbigniew Cybulski, Ashes and Diamonds), and his surreal, mystical adventures in the region several decades before. He starts to translate the text for the Polish soldier, and so begins a time-shifting, genre-hopping, ouroboros-like epic narrative, one that blends the gothic, quixotic and erotic, and in the process interrogates the very nature of storytelling itself. Championed by Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, The Saragossa Manuscript has grown in status since its initial release from a cult oddity to a film widely regarded as one of greatest ever produced in Poland, and a work that cemented Wojciech Has as one of European cinema’s most visionary and idiosyncratic directors. 4K UHD & BLU-RAY DUAL FORMAT SPECIAL FEATURES New 4K restoration from the original camera negative, presented in Dolby Vision HDR 4K UHD and Blu-ray presentation of the feature; world premiere on 4K UHD Uncompressed mono PCM audio New visual essay on the cinema of Wojiech Has and The Saragossa Manuscript by Polish film expert Michael Brooke Saragossa - archival making-of documentary made for Polish television on The Saragossa Manuscript, featuring Wojciech Has, cinematographer Mieczyslaw Jahoda, production designer Jerzy Skarżyński, and assistant director Barbara Sass-Zdort (1998, 29 mins) Newly improved English subtitle translation Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by author David Hering and archival writing by Annette Insdorf Limited edition of 5000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings