Wojciech Has's witty, exotic and fascinatingly constructed cult classic of the mid-sixties was missing from distribution for a number of years, and re-introduced to the United States in 1978 after much effort by a Seattle distributor. The Saragossa Manuscript is an adaptation of a Polish literary text written in French by one Count Potocki, an itinerant aristocrat of the Age of Enlightenment. In the composition of his text, Potocki was profoundly influenced by the narrative structures discovered in the “Decameron” and the “Arabian Nights.” In turn, Has's film is itself something of an experiment in the possibilities of filmic narrative.

“Set in Spain, it follows in unhurried and malicious fashion the adventures of a Guards officer in the Sierra Morena. He is involved in one odd experience after another, and every character he meets seems to have some new story to tell. This conglomeration of eccentricities, whimsy, and mock-heroics is controlled with deceptive skill by Has, and from it all emerges a strange, fascinating philosophy of life, compounded of licentiousness and naivety. The script is heavy, but Has's touch is so light, so laconic, and so rich in visual wit that it imbues the film with exactly the right blend of fantasy and decay. Never before has his detachment from his subject proved so appropriate.

“The Saragossa Manuscript could also be a satire on spectacle films (note the splendid duel, with pigs grunting contemptuously off screen), a Polish ‘Candide,' or even an attempt to create a sort of passive Don Quixote. The art direction is baroque in the extreme, particularly in the Moorish harem and the magician's castle.”