#1016: ZEMAN, Karel: Invention For Destruction (1958)

ZEMAN, Karel (Czechoslovokia)
THREE FANTASTIC JOURNEYS BY KAREL ZEMAN
Invention For Destruction [1958]
Spine #1016
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.

This eye-popping escapade revolves around a scientist and his doomsday machine — and the pirates who will stop at nothing to gain possession of it. Freely adapting the fiction of Jules Verne, and inspired by Victorian line engravings, Karel Zeman surrounds his actors with animated scenery of breathtaking intricacy and complexity, constructing an impossibly vivid proto-steampunk world. Released abroad at the turn of the 1960s, Invention for Destruction went on to become one of the most internationally successful Czechoslovak films of all time.

81 minutes

Black & White
Monaural
in Czech

1:37:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2020

Director/Writer

Freely adapted from the writings of Jules Verne, from his 1896 novel Facing the Flag.

Screenplay by Karel Zeman and František Hrubín.

Zeman was 48 when he directed Invention for Destruction.

Zeman was a film director, artist, production designer and animator. And in his films, he is all four at once!

Other Zeman films in the Collection:

#1015: Journey To The Beginning Of Time (1955)
#1017: The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962)

The Film

• The Title

The original Czech title — Vynález zkázy — translates to Verne’s title, Facing the Flag. After Joseph E. Levine imported the film in 1960, changed the title to The Fabulous World of Jules Verne, had it dubbed into English, had the actors names Anglicized, and replaced Zeman’s opening with a new introduction hosted by Concentration’s Hugh Downs, (the name Karel Zeman is never mentioned), the film acquired the English title A Deadly Invention — eventually becoming Invention for Destruction.

• .The Art of this Film

Most folks are familiar with the etching style of Gustav Doré (1832-1883); example: 

but even more influential were Édouard Riou (1833-1900); example:
 

and Léon Benett (1839-1916); example:
 

 — both illustrated the original editions of Verne’s novels.

The films of Georges Méliès (1861-1938) are another influence.

Zeman uses every trick in the animation playbook — stop motion, substitution splices, time-lapse, 3-D sets — and then he combines a live-action story with it all. With most of the action taking place underwater, he painstakingly hand-painted thousands of wavy lines to produce the illusion of rippling water. The steampunk movement surely can trace its roots to this film.

• The music

by Zdenek Liška is really astonishing, matching the magic one sees onscreen. In fact, Liška and Zeman worked very closely together to produce a constantly-flowing stream of orchestrated images.

• The acting

Although the live-action is seamlessly blended into these fantastical environments, the actors themselves had to perform in a very stiff, formalized style in order to blend in with the animation.

• Summary

Very few films achieve such fluency over 81 minutes, let alone such a complex undertaking, released in 1958. This is a delightful way to spend all those minutes.

Film Rating (0-60):

57

The Extras

The Booklet

Four-page faux-newspaper featuring an essay by film critic Michael Atkinson, along with deluxe pop-up art.

The pop-up art is astonishing! All three discs feature wonderful 3-D scenes from their respective films. On one backing shows a photo of Zeman with this quote:

"I have only one wish: to delight the eyes and heart of every child."

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

Extras Rating (0-40):

36

57 + 36 =

93

By Director

By Spine #