#1015: ZEMAN, Karel: Journey To The Beginning Of Time (1955)
ZEMAN, Karel (Czechoslovokia)
THREE FANTASTIC JOURNEYS BY KAREL ZEMAN
Journey To The Beginning Of Time [1955]
Spine #1015
Blu-ray
The Booklet
Four-page faux-newspaper featuring an essay by film critic Michael Atkinson, along with deluxe pop-up art.
Commentary
None.
U.S.-release version
Of Journey to the Beginning of Time from 1960.
Alternate
Soundtrack for Invention for Destruction, and the opening sequence of the 1961 U.S.-release version.
Programs
With animation filmmaker John Stevenson and special-effects artists Phil Tippett and Jim Aupperle discussing director Zeman and his complex visual trickery.
Four early short films
By Zeman: A Christmas Dream (1945), A Horseshoe for Luck (1946), Inspiration (1949), and King Lavra (1950).
Film Adventurer: Karel Zeman
A 2015 documentary about the director, featuring filmmakers Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam, illustrator Ludmila Zeman, and others.
Short documentaries
Produced by the Karel Zeman Museum profiling the director and detailing the production and effects of all three films.
THREE FANTASTIC JOURNEYS BY KAREL ZEMAN
Journey To The Beginning Of Time [1955]
Spine #1015
Blu-ray
A one-of-a-kind silver-screen illusionist, Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman devoted his career to transporting viewers to realms beyond their wildest imagining. The deft, breathtaking combinations of live action and animation techniques that he pioneered in the postwar years earned him comparisons to legends such as Georges Méliès, and an array of followers that includes Jan Ŝvankmajer, Terry Gilliam and Wes Anderson. Presented here are three of Zeman's most enchanting fantasies — a boys' adventure into the mists of prehistory, a Jules Verne-derived flight of fancy, and an exotic eighteenth-century tall tale — all of them treasure chests of wondrous sights, tactile textures, and headlong yarn-spinning that helped put Czechoslovak cinema on the international map.
A beguiling mix of natural history and science fiction, this early feature by Karel Zeman follows four schoolboys on an awe-inspiring expedition back through time, where they behold landscapes and creatures that have long since vanished from the earth. Hewing closely to the scientific knowledge of its era, Journey to the Beginning of Time brings its prehistoric beasts alive through a number of innovative techniques — including stop-motion puppetry, and life-size models — creating an atmosphere of pure wonderment.
84 minutes
Color
Monaural
in Czech
Monaural
in Czech
1:37:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2020
Director/Writers
Screenplay by Karel Zeman and J. S. Novotny.
Zeman was 45 when he directed Journey to the Beginning of Time.
Other Zeman films in the Collection:
#1016: Invention For Destruction (1958)
#1017: The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962)
The Film
Other Zeman films in the Collection:
#1016: Invention For Destruction (1958)
#1017: The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962)
The Film
A
Film Rating (0-60):
60
The ExtrasThe Booklet
Four-page faux-newspaper featuring an essay by film critic Michael Atkinson, along with deluxe pop-up art.
Commentary
None.
U.S.-release version
Of Journey to the Beginning of Time from 1960.
Alternate
Soundtrack for Invention for Destruction, and the opening sequence of the 1961 U.S.-release version.
Programs
With animation filmmaker John Stevenson and special-effects artists Phil Tippett and Jim Aupperle discussing director Zeman and his complex visual trickery.
Four early short films
By Zeman: A Christmas Dream (1945), A Horseshoe for Luck (1946), Inspiration (1949), and King Lavra (1950).
Film Adventurer: Karel Zeman
A 2015 documentary about the director, featuring filmmakers Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam, illustrator Ludmila Zeman, and others.
Short documentaries
Produced by the Karel Zeman Museum profiling the director and detailing the production and effects of all three films.
Restoration demonstrations
And an interview with restoration supervisor James Mockoski.
Trailers
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