The Saragossa Website
Wojciech Jerzy Has’s mind-bending 1960s masterpiece The Saragossa Manuscript (Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie, 1965) now has its own dedicated website, courtesy of UK distributors Mr Bongo Films, and a quick glance suggests that there’s a fair bit more content there than is the case with many similar promotional sites.
I’ve only seen a pre-production version of their DVD, but they did a pretty good job - I was particularly impressed with the way that the generous 44-chapter menu also doubled as a crib sheet, listing who was telling what at which point. If you’ve seen the film, you’ll know how handy that can be!
Hi, Michael, I can’t say I’ve really understood the fascination with Saragossa (may be time to try and give it another go), but I wonder whether you know if Has’ Sanatorium pod klepsydra (1973) is available on DVD anywhere? I love Schulz’s book and the Quay connection makes it very intriguing.
May 17th, 2008 at 9:46 am
I believe it’s due to come out in Poland as part of the same Has series that currently comprises Noose (Pętla, 1958) and One-Room Tenants (Wspólny pokój, 1959) - but I don’t know of any release date. Those two discs have English subtitles on the main feature, so I imagine the same will be true of the others.
This isn’t just guesswork, as I’ve seen a list of the five or six planned titles and I’m pretty sure Sanatorium Pod Klepsydrą was on it, but I can’t for the life of me remember where!
May 17th, 2008 at 10:25 am