Diamonds of the Night

Diamonds of the Night
Directed by	Jan Němec
Produced by	Jan Procházka Erich Svabík
Written by	Arnost Lustig Jan Němec
Starring	Ladislav Jánský Antonín Kumbera
Music by	Vlastimil Hála Jan Rychlík
Cinematography	Jaromír Šofr
Editing by	Oldřich Bosák
Release date(s)	25 September, 1964
Running time	63 minutes
Country	Czechoslovakia
Language	Czech

Diamonds of the Night (Czech: Démanty noci) is a Czech 1964 film about two boys on the run from a train taking them to a concentration camp. It was director Jan Němec's first full-length feature film.

Plot

Diamonds of the Night begins with two young men fleeing from a train and hiding in the woods. Through the course of their journey, flashbacks shed light on their past; the boys are fleeing from a Nazi train on its way to a concentration camp. During their escape, they encounter a woman on a farm. One boy struggles with thoughts of murder and rape before silently taking a loaf of bread from the woman's kitchen and leaving. Eventually, the boys are caught by a local militia group for stealing the bread. The men prepare to execute the boys, but simply laugh as they walk away instead of executing them. The ending is ambiguous: The men either actually spared the boys, or they could be walking into the afterlife.

Cast

• Ladislav Jánsky as the 1st Boy
• Antonín Kumbera as the 2nd Boy
• Irma Bischofova as the woman

External links

• Diamonds of the Night at AllRovi
• Diamonds of the Night at the Internet Movie Database