Budapest Classic Film Marathon: Invention for Destruction

Director: Karel Zeman

Screenplay: Frantisek Hrubin, Karel Zeman,
Director of photography: Antonín Horák, Bohuslav Pikhart, Jirí Tarantík
Music: Zdenek Liska

Open Archives / The fantastical world of Karel Zeman

This film was for a long time the most successful Czech film. It is not the portrayal of a specific novel but like every Verne dream wrapped up in one; that said, a large part can be attributed to Jules Verne’s Facing the Flag. It depicts a procession of strange machines and flying contraptions while the graphics were inspired as much by the illustrators of Verne novels Riou, Pannemaker and Benett as Georges Méliès, the magician in the early days of film, for whom film was much a magic box as for Zeman. One stormy night, Professor Roch is kidnapped by pirates arriving in huge ships, who carry him off to the evil Atrigas. The plan is for the professor to make a weapon of the future, which the count can use to take over the world. Artigas, who inhabits an underwater domain, appears to be Captain Nemo’s evil twin. With its fantastical monsters and graphic backgrounds, this live-action animation sci-fi awaits rediscovery.

More information about the Budapest Classic Film Marathon's program in Uránia >>