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Modern Film Scripts
Ashes and diamonds. Kanal. A generation: Three films
Three screenplays of films by Polish director Andrzej Wajda. "A Generation" screenplay by Bohdan Czeszko based on his novel, produced 1955. "Kanal" story and screenplay by Jerzy Stefan Stawinski, produced 1957. "Ashes and Diamonds" screenplay by Jerzy Andrzejewski based on his novel, produced 1958. The three films were all set during the World War II German occupation and were successful in the American market during the 1960s foreign film boom. "Kanal," a gripping, documentary-like story of the Warsaw uprising, was the most popular although all three of Wajda's films did well in the U.S. market at a time when audiences were more tolerant of films with subtitles.
239 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
10 people want to read
About the author
Andrzej Wajda
35 books2 followersAndrzej Wajda (born 6 March 1926 in Suwałki) is a Polish film director. Recipient of an honorary Oscar, he is one of the most prominent members of the Polish Film School. A major figure of world and Central European cinema after World War II, Wajda made his reputation as a sensitive and uncompromising chronicler of his country's political and social evolution.
He is currently listed as the 97th greatest director of all-time by film website They Shoot Pictures Don't They[1], with four of his movies nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Wajda became interested in the visual arts when working as assistant to a restorer of old church paintings in Radom. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, then film directing at the Leon Schiller State Theatre and Film School at Łódź. His first three films, Pokolenie (1954; A Generation), Kanał (1957; Canal), and Popiół i diament (1958; Ashes and Diamonds), won prizes at international film festivals. They constituted a trilogy that dealt in symbolic imagery with sweeping social and political changes in Poland during the German occupation, the Warsaw uprising of 1944, and the immediate postwar years. The actor Zbigniew Cybulski became famous for his portrayal of the hero, a boy growing into manhood whose idealism survives the humiliation and defeat of the occupation and the deaths of friends and the girl he loves.
Wajda became increasingly concerned with the problems of youth in the contemporary world and with the conflicts inherent in the human situation in later films such as Lotna (1959), Wszystko na sprzedaż (1968; Everything for Sale), Ziemia obiecana (1974; The Promised Land), Czlowiek z marmuru (1977; Man of Marble), Bez znieczulenia (1978; Without Anesthetic, or Rough Treatment), Panny z Wilka (1979; The Young Girls of Wilko), Czlowiek z zelaza (1981; Man of Iron), and Danton (1982). The highly acclaimed Korczak (1990) is a true story of the final days of Henryk Goldszmit (better known by his pen name Janusz Korczak), a Jewish doctor, writer, and child advocate who refused to escape Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II in order to maintain his orphanage. Other films include Nastasja (1994); Pan Tadeusz (1999), which is based on Adam Mickiewicz’s epic poem of the same name; Zemsta (2002; The Revenge), which starred Roman Polanski; and Katyn (2007), about the Katyn Massacre in 1940. Wadja received an honorary Academy Award in 2000.
He is currently listed as the 97th greatest director of all-time by film website They Shoot Pictures Don't They[1], with four of his movies nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Wajda became interested in the visual arts when working as assistant to a restorer of old church paintings in Radom. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, then film directing at the Leon Schiller State Theatre and Film School at Łódź. His first three films, Pokolenie (1954; A Generation), Kanał (1957; Canal), and Popiół i diament (1958; Ashes and Diamonds), won prizes at international film festivals. They constituted a trilogy that dealt in symbolic imagery with sweeping social and political changes in Poland during the German occupation, the Warsaw uprising of 1944, and the immediate postwar years. The actor Zbigniew Cybulski became famous for his portrayal of the hero, a boy growing into manhood whose idealism survives the humiliation and defeat of the occupation and the deaths of friends and the girl he loves.
Wajda became increasingly concerned with the problems of youth in the contemporary world and with the conflicts inherent in the human situation in later films such as Lotna (1959), Wszystko na sprzedaż (1968; Everything for Sale), Ziemia obiecana (1974; The Promised Land), Czlowiek z marmuru (1977; Man of Marble), Bez znieczulenia (1978; Without Anesthetic, or Rough Treatment), Panny z Wilka (1979; The Young Girls of Wilko), Czlowiek z zelaza (1981; Man of Iron), and Danton (1982). The highly acclaimed Korczak (1990) is a true story of the final days of Henryk Goldszmit (better known by his pen name Janusz Korczak), a Jewish doctor, writer, and child advocate who refused to escape Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II in order to maintain his orphanage. Other films include Nastasja (1994); Pan Tadeusz (1999), which is based on Adam Mickiewicz’s epic poem of the same name; Zemsta (2002; The Revenge), which starred Roman Polanski; and Katyn (2007), about the Katyn Massacre in 1940. Wadja received an honorary Academy Award in 2000.
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September 18, 2021
One of a series of 'Modern Film Scripts' published by Lorrimer Publishing, London in collaboration with Simon and Schuster, New York.
The three groundbreaking films from Poland's greatest director and most significant filmmaker of 'The Polish School' - Andrzej Wajda - are presented here in their original screenplay format with a shot-by-shot analysis of the released versions of the films. And complimenting the scripts are scores of photos interspersed throughout the text to highlight various important scenes.
Known as 'The Wajda Trilogy,' these monumental Polish films are:
'Pokolenie'/'A GENERATION' (1955): Screenplay by Bohdan Czeszko (from his own novel), Wajda's first film set around the Polish resistance during World War 2 (with a young Roman Polanski in a supporting role.) "A coming-of-age story of survival and shattering loss ... delivers a brutal portrait of the human cost of war."
'KANAL' (1956): Screenplay by Jerzy Stefan Stawinski (from his own short story); a grim portrayal of the fate of a group of resistance fighters trying to escape through the Warsaw sewers during the Rising of 1944. Based on true events. "Determined to survive, the men and women slog through the hellish labyrinth, piercing the darkness with the strength of their individual spirits." Special Jury Prize at Cannes, 1957.
'Popiol I Diament'/'ASHES AND DIAMONDS' (1958): Screenplay by Jerzy Andrzejewski and Andrzej Wajda (adapted from the former's novel); the most famous of the three films, centers around the planned assassination of an important Communist official on the last day of WW2, with a memorable performance from Zbigniew Cybulski. "The film masterfully interweaves the fate of a nation with that of one man, resulting in one of the most important Polish films of all time."
Wajda, who joined the Polish resistance at the age of 16 clearly brings many of his own experiences to these stark depictions of the fight against the Nazi occupation of his homeland in the closing years of the war.
I recently watched all these films on a Criterion boxed set and they are all superb and have lost none of their brilliance or relevance.
Three masterpieces of filmmaking to study via the original screenplays.
With an excellent introduction by Boleslaw Sulik.
The three groundbreaking films from Poland's greatest director and most significant filmmaker of 'The Polish School' - Andrzej Wajda - are presented here in their original screenplay format with a shot-by-shot analysis of the released versions of the films. And complimenting the scripts are scores of photos interspersed throughout the text to highlight various important scenes.
Known as 'The Wajda Trilogy,' these monumental Polish films are:
'Pokolenie'/'A GENERATION' (1955): Screenplay by Bohdan Czeszko (from his own novel), Wajda's first film set around the Polish resistance during World War 2 (with a young Roman Polanski in a supporting role.) "A coming-of-age story of survival and shattering loss ... delivers a brutal portrait of the human cost of war."
'KANAL' (1956): Screenplay by Jerzy Stefan Stawinski (from his own short story); a grim portrayal of the fate of a group of resistance fighters trying to escape through the Warsaw sewers during the Rising of 1944. Based on true events. "Determined to survive, the men and women slog through the hellish labyrinth, piercing the darkness with the strength of their individual spirits." Special Jury Prize at Cannes, 1957.
'Popiol I Diament'/'ASHES AND DIAMONDS' (1958): Screenplay by Jerzy Andrzejewski and Andrzej Wajda (adapted from the former's novel); the most famous of the three films, centers around the planned assassination of an important Communist official on the last day of WW2, with a memorable performance from Zbigniew Cybulski. "The film masterfully interweaves the fate of a nation with that of one man, resulting in one of the most important Polish films of all time."
Wajda, who joined the Polish resistance at the age of 16 clearly brings many of his own experiences to these stark depictions of the fight against the Nazi occupation of his homeland in the closing years of the war.
I recently watched all these films on a Criterion boxed set and they are all superb and have lost none of their brilliance or relevance.
Three masterpieces of filmmaking to study via the original screenplays.
With an excellent introduction by Boleslaw Sulik.
Displaying 1 of 1 review