The Saragossa Manuscript
A favorite film of Jerry Garcia and Luis Buñuel, The Saragossa Manuscript is a brilliant adaptation of one of the greatest works of world literature. It is a Chinese box tale a travel story about the supernatural and mystical opposed to the humanist materialism.
It is 1739 as Alphonse van Worden crosses the wild range of the Sierra Morena, a land said to be inhabited only by demons evil spirits and invisible hands that push travellers into chasms. Although he refuses to listen to those tales, his journey will be a sequence of supernatural and frightful events. But maybe theyre only illusions?
Accolades
1971 Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain – Special Award – winner. 1965 IFF Edinburg – special mention. 1965 IFF San Sebastian – CIDALC prize, Award of the International Journalist’s Club.
Cast & Crew
Directed by Wojciech J. Has. Written by Tadeusz Kwiatkowski. Cinematography by Mieczysław Jahoda. Production design Tadeusz Myszorek and Jerzy Skarżyński. Music by Krzysztof Penderecki. Film editing by Krystyna Komosińska. Production management: Ryszard Straszewski. Produced by Zespół Filmowy KAMERA. © Cyfrowe Re- pozytorium Filmowe. Cast: Zbigniew Cybulski (Alfons Van Worden), Iga Cembrzyńska (Princess Emina), Elżbieta Czyżewska (Donna Frasquetta Salero), Gustaw Holoubek (Don Pedro Velasquez), Stanisław Igar (Don Gaspar Soarez), Joanna Jędryka (Zibelda).
