Ashes and Diamonds aka Popiół i diament (1958)

Rating 8.0/10
Runtime: 103 min
Language: Polish
Country: Poland
Directed by: Andrzej Wajda
IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052080/

Cast

Zbigniew Cybulski ... Maciek Chelmicki
Ewa Krzyzewska ... Krystyna
Waclaw Zastrzezynski ... Szczuka
Adam Pawlikowski ... Andrzej
Bogumil Kobiela ... Drewnowski
Jan Ciecierski ... Portier
Stanislaw Milski ... Pieniazek

Description: On the last day of World War Two in a small town somewhere in Poland, Polish exiles of war and the occupying Soviet forces confront the beginning of a new day and a new Poland. In this incendiary environment we find Home Army soldier Maciek Chelmicki, who has been ordered to assassinate an incoming commissar. But a mistake stalls his progress and leads him to Krystyna, a beautiful barmaid who gives him a glimpse of what his life could be. Gorgeously photographed and brilliantly performed, Ashes and Diamonds masterfully interweaves the fate of a nation with that of one man, resulting in one of the most important Polish films of all time.

Screens

Download link (torrent file):

https://rapidshare.com/files/2445752942/Ashes and Diamonds.torrent


+ extra - documentary called "On Ashes and Diamonds" from 2005, with Andrzej Wajda discussing some aspects of making the movie and his early director career


Video and audio information:

Video : 1.02 GB, 1447 Kbps, 23.976 fps, 704*416 (16:9), XVID = XVID Mpeg-4
Audio : 169 MB, 107 Kbps, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, 0x55 = Lame MP3


Subtitles for main movie (English, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Italian) and extra (English) + sample (11 MB)

All included


Dual audio track information


This movie contains two audio tracks, one is original Polish, and the other is additional audio commentary by film scholar Annette Insdorf. You can use VLC Player to easily choose between any of audio tracks or you can use VirtualDub to get rid of any of audio tracks by following these steps:


1. Download Virtualdub from that WWW address:

http://www.virtualdub.org/download.html

2. Download your version, unzip the files, start the program by running VirtualDub.exe

3. From “File” tab choose “Open video file” and find your dual audio file on your HDD (or you can simply drag and drop movie file into program window)

4. If any warning window pops up, just click on “OK”

5. From “Video” tab choose “Direct stream copy” option (very important, do not miss that step)

6. From “Audio” tab choose which audio stream you want to use, usually main audio stream is Stream 1, and commentary is on Stream 2, but to be 100 % sure use preview option that VD provides by clicking on “Play” button on the butttom of program window when video file is loaded. Of course you can get rid of original audio and save the file with commentary that way too, just by choosing other stream.

7. From “File” tab choose “Save AVI file”, put movie name and choose destination folder and then click on OK. Program will start its job after no more than 2 minutes your only one audio track movie should be ready.