Ashes And Diamonds [1958] [DVD]

The third in Director Andrej Wadja's war trilogy, Ashes and Diamonds is set in Poland on the last day of WW2. The German High Command have issued their unconditional surrender and the Communists quickly fill the vacuum left by Hitler's goose-steppers and set up shop. Warsaw is lousy with rats and not all of them are of the rodent variety as power hungry bureaucrats jostle for position in the new order.

Having spent the last half a decade under the Nazi junta; the prospect of a future under Stalin's jackboot is met with keen opposition. Maciek, a resistance fighter, is ordered to kill a local Socialist party official, which he is more than happy to do, but soon discovers he has killed two innocent civilians instead.

Maciek books a room at a rundown hotel where his quarry is staying. While he waits for the right moment to make amends he meets and falls in love with the barmaid Krystyna. His connection to the girl leads him to rethink his part in the endless cycle of violence.

The central role of Maciek is played by the brilliant Zybigniew Cybulski who came to be known as the `Polish James Dean.' Dean's death in a highway smash in 1955 meant he would never fulfil his promise and so would forever be frozen in movie goer's minds as a deeply troubled boy. Cybulski was 30 when he played the role that made him and gives us a glimpse of what his western counterpart could have achieved. Cybulski's Maciek is a worldly wise, vodka fuelled skirt chaser, (not a million miles away from his real life persona allegedly) and far from being made twisted and bitter by his war experiences, Cybulski plays the character as a man who laughs at the cruel joke of life that has been played on all of us and is determined to "have fun and not be swindled" even in the face of imminent annihilation.

It was a conscious decision on Wadja and Cybulski's part that despite their story taking place in 1945, ASHES AND DIAMONDS' central character was going to be `all out' 50's cool. Parts Brando, Dean and Clift - Maciek, in his army fatigues and `sun-glasses after dark' became a symbol for Polish teenagers who would emulate his style for years to come; and his Anna Karenna-esque death beneath the wheels of a late night train in 1967 only exacerbated his legendary status. Even now we see shades of him in any number of Hong Kong `glock operas' and John Cusack's `assassin in Raybans' from Grosse Point Blank is a clearly a direct decendant.

Often charged with being overloaded with symbolism as scenes are obscured by upside down crucifixes; characters rendered almost invisible in morning light whilst unfurling flags or inexplicably joined by white horses as they ponder the possibilities of a brighter future, ASHES AND DIAMONDS makes no secret of its Expressionist credentials. The youthful hero dying on a mountainous rubbish dump to the accompaniment of screeching crows is an image lifted almost directly from Van Gogh's apocalyptic `Crows over Wheatfield's'.

Two years after Cybulski met his destiny on the snowy platform of Wroclaw station Wadja made EVERYTHING FOR SALE about an actor missing from the set of a film. The missing actor was clearly meant to be Cybulski who even in death dominated every scene. It still stands as probably the best film an actor never made.

This new Blu-ray Edition from Arrow Academy has not been reviewed [to date], just appended with old DVD reviews as is Amazons custom.

I shan't bore you with more analysis and description of the film but just give a brief update on the quality and content of the package.

Starting with the Blu-ray disc itself, the quality is really very high, the film looks excellent. So everything one might have hoped for there. The aspect ratio is 1.66:1 so you need to make sure it's viewed correctly with a small amount of black down the left/right sides on a 16.9 screen.

The video extra finds Wajda speaking direct to camera and discussing the films historical, political and artistic context.

The case comes inside a slip cover with a transparent window. This is designed to display the new cover artwork or one of three reproduction original posters. I'm not so keen on the new artwork, but the posters are very interesting. Once the disc is on and you encounter the various menu headings; Auditorium, Reel Change, Kiosk and Projection Booth, you may, like me begin to think that the pudding is being a little over egged.

There's a very good booklet with new writing from the ever excellent Michael Brooke as well as other interesting re-printed material and images.

Above all the film looks and sounds very impressive.

This is a truly wonderful film, a genuine masterpiece. Cybulski, or Spishek to his friends, was the lover of my great friend Marlene Dietrich and it was her train that he was rushing after that fateful night. She tearfully recounted the whole episode for my "Marlene, My Friend". What Adrian (sublime review by the way) failed to add was that the film's theme is "J'ai perdue ma jeunesse", a French song created by Damia and reprised by Marlene. In this film, Cybulski dies arguably the most eloquent death in any film, and I cannot praise this film enough. I can only complain that Amazon do not allow us to give more than 5 stars.