"Director: Wojciech Has"

• Saragossa Manuscript (Restored Special Edition) | DVD | (19/03/2012) from £11.59   |  Saving you £6.40 (55.22%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Based on the book by the highly-esteemed Count Jan Potocki, the film version is reputedly a respectful, mostly faithful adaptation of this literary cat's cradle set in the weirdly fantastic landscapes of arid 17th-century Spain. The films creates a magical, sometimes disturbing world of the supernatural so it's no surprise that this was a counterculture classic and Jerry Garcia's favourite. Garcia, along with Scorsese, put up the money to have the film fully restored. In a gloriously convoluted structure, characters pop in and out of each other's stories with the random-logic of a drug-trip. These characters include sexy ghost-princesses, the demonically-possessed and many an errant corpse! The intriguing stylistic flourishes sit against the wonderful soundtrack, which was composed by Krzyszt Penderecki.

• Hourglass Sanatorium | Blu Ray | (07/09/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  A young man named Joseph (Jan Nowicki) visits a dilapidated Sanatorium to see his father Jakob (Tadeusz Konrad). On his arrival a sinister doctor informs him that his father had stopped breathing but hasn’t died yet perhaps due to Joseph’s arrival which may have halted time in the Sanatorium. Joseph undertakes a strange journey through the many rooms of the Sanatorium each of which conjures worlds composed of his memories dreams and nightmares. Adapted from a collection of short stories by Polish-Jewish writer Bruno Schulz The Hourglass Sanatorium dispenses with traditional narrative fashioning an audio-visual mosaic that blurs the line between reality and fantasy. As in The Saragossa Manuscript Wojciech Has fashions a cinematic universe composed with byzantine sets hallucinatory images and a gallery of grotesque characters. However his magical-realist vision of pre-WW2 Poland is tinged with the sober consciousness of the violence that would follow and the recreation of Joseph’s childhood in a Jewish ghetto foreshadowing the Holocaust. Extras: Full frame-by-frame restoration and fully remastered soundtrack Funded by the Polish Arts council Restored version of Has' psychedelic masterpiece.

• Saragossa Manuscript | Blu Ray | (07/09/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  During Napoleon's invasion of Spain, two soldiers discover a strange manuscript at an Inn. The book chronicles the adventures of Alfonso van Worden (Zbigniew Cybulski - Ashes and Diamonds). Alfonso's passage through the dangerous Sierra Morena Mountains is repeatedly interrupted by seemingly random encounters with an assortment of larger than life figures. Tunisian princesses inform Alfonso that he is their cousin and their betrothed; an occult scholar ensnares Alfonso with confounding stories about feuds between Merchants and hardships faced by gypsies. And of course, Alfonso never did expect the Spanish Inquisition. Adapted from explorer Jan Potocki's magnum opus, Wojciech Has' The Saragossa Manuscript is a major cult film of the 1960s. Its admirers include film-makers Luis Buñuel and David Lynch as well as musician Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead. Its approach to storytelling, admiringly described by comics artist Neil Gaiman as ˜a labyrinth inside a maze', features stories within stories, alternatively frightening and comical in its mind-bending exploration of human nature. Extras/Episodes: Fully and recently restored version of Has' psychedelic epic. Cast and Crew: Stars: Zbigniew Cybulski, Kazimierz Opalinski, Iga Cembrzynska-Kondratiuk, Joanna Jedryka, Aleksander Fogiel, Barbara Krafftowa. Pola Raksa Directed by: Worjciech Has Awards and Reviews: I love the Saragossa Manuscript ... exceptional Luis Buñuel This is one mother of a film David Lynch Epic Time Out Poland's greatest cult film The Village Voice

• Hourglass Sanitorium (Restored Special Edition) | DVD | (19/03/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  From legendary Polish master-director Wojciech Has Hourglass Sanatorium is a cinematic adaptation of renowned writer Bruno Schulz’ Sanatorium Under The Sign Of The Hourglass. This magnificent newly restored edition is one of the first Polish films to be restored in HD, by the outstanding Polish cinematographer Witold Sobocinski, giving it amazing depth of field and excellent definition. Set in the pre-World War II era, the film sees Joseph (Jan Nowicki) travelling on a strange, dilapidated train to see his dying father (Tadeusz Kondrat) in a sanatorium. Upon arrival though, he finds a hospital crumbling into ruin, where time is slowed down in order to maintain his father’s life signs.

• The Hour-Glass Sanatorium | DVD | (03/11/2008) from £10.95   |  Saving you £2.04 (15.70%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Mr. Bongo Films presents the next installment from the wonderful director Wojciech Has which follows on from the cult classic 'The Saragossa Manuscript''. 'The Hourglass Sanitorium'' is a surrealist head-spin of a film and has been compared to the best works of Gilliam Greenaway and Bunuel. 'The Hourglass Sanatorium'' is an adaptation of Bruno Schulz''s story collection 'Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass''. Schulz was seen as the Polish Kafka he was later murdered by the SS during WWII. The film depicts it''s protagonist Joseph (Jan Nowicki) travelling through a dream-like world taking a dilapidated train to visit his dying father in a sanatorium. When he arrives he finds the entire facility is going to ruin and no one seems to be in charge or even caring for the patients. Time appears to behave in unpredictable ways reanimating the past in an elaborate artificial caprice. The many occurrences in this visually potent phantasmagoria include Joseph re-entering childhood episodes with his eccentric father (who lives with birds) being arrested by mysterious soldiers reflecting on a girl he knew in his boyhood and bringing historic wax figures to life with names from a postage stamp album. Throughout his strange journey an ominous blind train conductor reappears like a death figure. Has also includes a series of reflections on the Holocaust that were not present in the original novel reading Schulz's prose through the prism of the author's tragic death and the destruction of the world he described.

• The Saragossa Manuscript | DVD | (26/03/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  At last Mr Bongo Films presents the full-length masterpiece of this incredible film. Martin Scorses, Francis Ford Coppola, Luis Bunuel and Jerry Garcai have at various times described The Saragossa Manuscript as their favorite film. Based on the book by the highly-esteemed Count Jan Potocki, the film version is reputedly a respectful, mostly faithful adaptation of this literary cat s cradle set in the weird fantasy landscapes of arid 17th-century Spain. The films creates a magical, sometimes disturbing, world of the supernatural so it s no surprise that this was a counterculture classic and Jerry Garcia s favourite. He, along with Martin Scorsese, put up part of the money to have it restored to its full length. Besides the convoluted structure, characters pop in and out of each other s stories with the random logic of a trip. The characters includes sexy ghost princeses, demon-possesions and many a corpse. The intruiging stylistic flourishes sit against the wonderful soundtrack, which was composed by Krzyszt Penderecki, famous for the scores of The Shining and Wild At Heart.