The Saragossa Manuscript (1965) 2007

Based on the early 19th century novel by Polish author Jan Potocki, THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT is a brilliant, sexy and extraordinarily imaginative film. Starring the celebrated Zbigniew Cybulski ( Ashes and Diamonds), the film is ostensibly set at the end of the Napoleonic War. During the heat of battle, Belgian officer Alphonse van Worden (Cybulski) stumbles across an ancient manuscript. As he reads, a labyrinth of stories unfolds and takes the audience on a teasingly twisted trail through time and space. Erotic and supernatural, THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT was beloved by Alexander Pushkin as a novel; as a film, it was a longtime favorite of the Grateful Dead¹s Jerry Garcia. Critics frequently cite the film as one of the great masterpieces of Black and White Cinemascope cinematography. THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT is being presented, in a beautiful new print restored to its complete three hour length, by Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, in dedication to the memory of Jerry Garcia.