(Popiól i diament, Andrzej Wajda, Poland 1958, 103 min., 35mm, Polish with English subtitles)
Wajda’s first bona fide masterpiece and the conclusion of his informal “war trilogy,” Ashes and Diamonds bravely depicts the uneasy Polish political realities in the immediate aftermath of World War II. The protagonist of the film is former Home Army soldier Maciek (Zbigniew Cybulski), now tasked with assassinating a high-ranking communist leader. But instead of a straightforward thriller, Wajda delivers a proper film noir, and at the same time a uniquely bleak, socialist riff on disturbed-youth classics such as Rebel Without a Cause and The Wild One.
35mm print from the George Eastman Museum collection.
Upcoming Events in this Series
Film Screenings | The Wildcat (DCP)
Silent Tuesdays | Schweigen! | Polish Film Festival Years before his iconic “touch” was established, Ernst Lubitsch directed this broad farce about the military-and-marriage complex starring Polish emigré Pola Negri. Rischka (Negri), the daughter of a gang of robbers high in the snowy mountains of Germany, is a real wildcat and runs her father’s gang with ruthlessness.