Fabulous World of Jules Verne

 

When I was a kid--I don't remember how old--I saw Journey to the Beginning of Time in a theater. It had dinosaurs in and and, consequently, it was epic. I still remember being enthralled by it.

At the time, I would have had no idea that the movie had been made over a decade earlier in Czechoslovakia by a film-maker I wouldn't have heard of. I probably didn't realize that it was inspired by Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, either.

As an adult, I eventually read about Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman and learned about some of the other wonderful and imaginative films he made. Zeman was a Jules Verne fan and shout-outs to Verne pour out into pretty much everything he made. In 1958, he made Invention for Destruction, which is based on Verne's 1896 novel Facing the Flag, though elements from other Verne novels are there as well. (It was titled The Fabulous World of Jules Verne for its original, dubbed U.S. release.)

The movie is set in what we would now call a Steampunk world, with airships and submarines are common. A scientist has invented the ultimate weapon and gets kidnapped by pirates who have both a submarine and a secret island. The scientist is childish in his outlook and doesn't really think about how his invention might be misused. His assistant, kept locked away in another part of the island, is painfully aware of what the pirates will do with the weapon and makes plans to put a stop to this.

What makes the movie awesome, though, is the design of it. Zeman made the decision to look just like the original engraved illustrations that graced the original editions of Verne's novels. He has costumes and scenery decorated with hatchings that give it the proper look. He combines live action with animation (traditional, stop motion and cut-out) to add to this look and provide the images of the various vehicles, mansions and secret islands that populate the films. 

The awesome end result can only be described as wonderful. Or perhaps delightful. Delightfully awesome? Awesomely wonderful? The movie really does appear to be the book engravings come to life. As much as a Blu-Ray set of three Zeman films has me looking forward to finally watching Journey to the Begining of Time, I'm even more pleased to be able to watch a properly restored and properly subtitled print of this film. It is delightfully, wonderfully, awesomely... well, you get the point.

I generally like to make my own clips of movies I review here, but my poor laptop can't handle a Blu-Ray. So here's the trailer for the film's new restoration.