Diamonds of the Night Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Diamonds of the Night Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 3, 2019

Jan Nemec's Diamonds of the Night (1964) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an archival program with the director; exclusive new video interview with film programmer and Czechoslovak film expert Irena Kovarova; the documentary "Arnost Lustig Through the Eyes of Jan Nemec"; new video essay produced by film scholar James Quandt; and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring critic Michael Atkinson's essay "Into the Woods" and technical credits. In Czech, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A. "locked".

The wanted

At first it looks as if the abrupt opening and the shaky footage that follows are just parts of a segment that could and should have turned out a lot better. Even the cuts are so quick that they look like the work of a young and inexperienced editor.

But the longer the camera follows the two boys, the clearer it becomes that there is some type of a structure to the unevenness. Now the tempo is relentless. The boys do not waste any time talking and simply continue to move further away from the people that are chasing them.

It takes a little over fifteen minutes before a word is finally uttered and the boys slow down. The taller one can barely move now because one of his shoes has started falling apart and seriously injured his foot. Even though it is freezing cold, he isn’t complaining because it is utterly pointless. All that matters is that they have gotten away.

Random flashbacks begin interrupting the tense getaway and reveal a city where the boys were once free. It is hard to tell how long ago, but the contrast between the present and the past is so drastic that the flashbacks seem like glimpses from a surreal dream.

At a secluded farm, one of the boys approaches a middle-aged woman who instantly realizes that he is starving and hands him a piece of bread. They don’t talk. But before he takes the bread the boy has trouble controlling his thoughts -- he sees how he kills the woman, how she might be urging him to come to her bed, then how she once again drops dead before him.

A gang of hunters eventually track down their targets on a hill not too far away from the farm. All of them are old men carrying rifles and taking orders from a man in a military uniform. They relentlessly fire at the boys, as if they are shooting rabbits, and encourage each other in German. The boys try to run again, but now they can barely even move. The taller boy with the busted shoe can no longer even stand on his feet.

This classic Czech film from director Jan Nemec is based on a true story by Arnost Lustig, a WWII survivor who just like the two nameless boys once struggled to stay alive while the Germans were trying to capture him after he escaped from a train that was on its way to Dachau. It was such a horrific experience that at one point his mind nearly gave up and he started losing his sense of reality.

The unusual structure of the narrative basically mimics this very awkward mental state that apparently defined Lustig’s experience. There is quite a bit of overlapping going on and it is done in a way that makes it very difficult to tell what is real or imaginary, or what the actual proper chronology of the events that are seen in the film might be. Unsurprisingly, the end result feels a lot like a very dark and almost unbearably tense surrealistic nightmare, not a conventional war film about fugitives trying to stay alive.

Director Nemec, who was one of the key figures in the Czech New Wave movement that emerged in the ‘60s, obviously had a tiny budget to work with, but the minimalistic nature of the footage that he shot actually could not have been any more appropriate for this type of a film. The are literally no beautiful vistas to distract the viewer and words are kept to an absolute minimum. (The scattered ramblings of the Germans aren’t even translated). The focus of attention is exclusively on the suffocating sense of fear that the boys are feeling and their gradual realization that they just don’t have the physical energy to keep running away from the hunters.

*If Diamonds of the Night appeals to you, see Joseph Losey’s Figures in a Landscape. It is another unorthodox and really quite surreal film about men on the run.

Diamonds of the Night Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jan Nemec's Diamonds of the Night arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet that is provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution from the 35mm original camera negative, preserved at the National Film Archive in Prague, with missing section replicated from a duplicate positive. The restoration was performed under the archive's supervision. The monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm original soundtrack negative."

As the technical credits that are quoted above confirm, the release is sourced from the same new 4K master that Second Run accessed when it prepared this Region-B release of Diamonds of the Night earlier this year. However, the technical presentation here is different. Indeed, it appears that additional work was done to remove some minor surface imperfections. Also, in some areas additional digital repair work must have been done because obvious and not so obvious imperfections/damage that are present on the Region-B release are missing here. You can see examples of what was removed and repaired if you compare screencaptures #20, 21, and 22, which are from the Region-B release, with the corresponding screencaptures that we have included with this review. Unsurprisingly, the film now looks healthier, and in some cases fluidity is also marginally better because of the cosmetic surface work that was done. Depth and clarity are excellent. Overall balance and image stability are equally pleasing. The grading could have been a tad more delicate, but the end result is very, very strong. My score is 4.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Diamonds of the Night Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Czech LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

There are no surprises here. I thought that the lossless track on the Region-B release was excellent and here the quality of the audio is equally strong. Obviously, because of the native sound design -- which incorporates plenty of organic sounds and noises -- there are minor fluctuations and dynamic activity is limited, but the basics are excellent. For the record, There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report.

Diamonds of the Night Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A Loaf of Bread - presented here is Jan Nemec's 1960 student thesis film, based on a short story by Arnost Lustig. In Czech, with optional English subtitles. (12 min, 1080p).

• The "Golden Sixties Series" - Jan Nemec - presented here is a segment from an archival interview with Jan Nemec in which the director explains how he fell in love with cinema, and discusses his time at FAMU film school in Prague and the conception of Diamonds of the Night. The interview was conducted in 2009. In Czech, with optional English subtitles. (27 min, 1080i).

• Irena Kovarova - in this brand new video interview, film programmer and Czechoslovak film expert Irena Kovarova discusses the emergence of the Czechoslovak New Wave, some of the key films that were part of it and the main themes they promotes, as well as the significance of Diamonds of the Night. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in New York in 2018. In English, not subtitled. (17 min, 1080p).

• Five Influences on "Diamonds" - in this new video essay, film scholar James Quandt mentions some the directors that impacted Jan Nemec and his work and deconstructs the style of Diamonds of the Night. The essay was created exclusively for Criterion in 2018. In English, not subtitled. (22 min, 1080p).

• Arnost Lustig Through the Eyes of Jan Nemec - presented here is a short film from 1993 in which Kan Nemec pays tribute to author Arnost Lustig, whose work he adapted for A Loaf of Bread and Diamonds of the Night. In Czech, with optional English subtitles. (16 min, 1080i).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring critic Michael Atkinson's essay "Into the Woods" and technical credits.

Diamonds of the Night Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The very unique sense of suffocating fear mixed with desperation that permeates this classic Czech film is indescribable. The main reason for this is the fact that it comes from a reconstructed reality that is actually a reflection of a very particular state of mind, and unless experienced, I don't believe it can be fully comprehended and summarized. I am convinced that this is exactly why Jan Nemec structured his film a lot like a very fluid surrealistic nightmare. I like the film a lot, and I think that it is great that the recent 4K restoration that the Czech National Film Archive completed is being released on Blu-ray in multiple territories. Criterion's upcoming release has a presentation of the film with some additional digital work that was done to remove damage and improve fluidity. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.