Made by Jan Němec, the acclaimed director of the 1966 The Party and the Guests / O slavnosti a hostech (voted by New York critics as one of the best films of the 1960s), the 1964 Diamonds of the Night (Démanty noci) is one of the most startling and thrillingly original works in cinema.

The film follows the tense and desperate journey of two teenage Jewish boys who escape from a train bound for a Nazi concentration camp. Hunted down by a brutal band of armed men, the film ultimately goes beyond the themes of war to concern itself with man's perpetual struggle to preserve human dignity in the face of unimaginable horrors.

This was Němec's first feature film and was described by David Kehr in the Chicago reader as "A remarkable directorial debut... Nemec's film is a bleak, alternately realistic and hallucinatory examination of four days in the lives of two young escapees from the Nazis - and its mood of desperation and paranoia works a grim magic."

Diamonds in the Night will be released on UK DVD on 26th April 2010 by Second Run at the RRP of £12.99. Featuring an all-new Digital transfer with restored picture and sound and new English subtitle translation, the disc will have the following extras:

• A filmed appreciation by author Peter Hames;
• Booklet featuring essay by Michael Brooke.

UPDATE: The release date has now been changed to 10th May 2010.