Popiol I Diament (aka Ashes And Diamonds) (1958)

Set in Poland during the last days of WWII, a member (the unappealing Zbigniew Cybulski) of the Polish resistance movement, along with another comrade (Adam Pawlikowski in the film's best performance), are given the task of assassinating a Communist leader (Waclaw Zastrzeznski). He kills the wrong man however and holds up in a hotel where the Commissar is staying to finish his job. While waiting, he romances a young bardmaid (Ewa Krzyzewska). Based on the 1948 novel by Jerzy Andrzejewski, the film is beautifully shot in B&W by Jerzy Wojcik whose gifted lensing made the film for me. In most other respects, I found Andrzej Wajda's much admired film a rather dreary watch. It's such an unsubtle film that I had the feeling I'd seen it before (I hadn't) and found Cybulski, often referred to the Polish James Dean (as if ...) more of an imitation than an original. I freely admit I'm not much of a fan of Polish or Czech cinema and ASHES AND DIAMONDS despite watching it with an open mind, only confirms my antipathy. With Bogumil Kobiela whose performance as a bureaucrat playing both sides of the fence (the resistance and the Communists) is too cartoonish to take seriously.