Film Archive

Invention for Destruction

Out of the Past 2015 / Vynález zkázy / Czechoslovakia 1958

Anyone who watches this poetic, romantic and naivist adaptation of Verne’s novel Face au drapeau (Facing the Flag) will immediately succumb to its unique magic. They will also quickly understand why this work is still the most successful film in the country’s history, winning a series of prestigious international awards, and why it was selected as a cinematic masterpiece for the digital restoration programme.

Synopsis

Little remained of the story which inspired Zeman’s film, Jules Verne’s famous novel Face au drapeau (Facing the Flag): perhaps only the rocky island in the middle of the ocean, the mysterious submarine and the strange world beneath the sea... And, of course, its most important aspects – the suspense, the sense of adventure, the excitement of a struggle between noble objectives and base intentions, and the spectacle of those wonderful inventions. At a time when teams of specialists would be working together to create special effects, Zeman and a friend cut grooves into a paint roller and covered all the sets and costumes with stripes resembling the hatching in the beguiling period illustrations of Verne’s novels. Even the best special-effects films soon become dated, whilst Zeman’s, whose artistic beauty, gentle gags and playful invention were created on a shoestring, are as appealing for the modern audience as they were almost sixty years ago. In its digitised version the film will look even more delightful, especially when the pretty castaway starts ironing her dress down below deck using a hot cannon ramrod...

Zdena Škapová

About the film

84 min / Black & white, DCP
World premiere
Director Karel Zeman / Screenplay Karel Zeman, František Hrubín, Jiří Brdečka, Milan Vácha na motivy stejnojmeného románu Vynález zkázy / based on the novel Facing the Flag by Jules Verne / Dir. of Photography Jiří Tarantík / Music Zdeněk Liška / Editor Zdeněk Stehlík / Art Director Karel Zeman, Zdeněk Ostrčil, Josef Zeman, František Mádl, Vilém Janík / Producer Zdeněk Novák, Jan Stráník / Production Krátký film Praha, Studio loutkových filmů Gottwaldov / Cast Lubor Tokoš, Arnošt Navrátil, František Šlégr, Miloslav Holub, Jana Zatloukalová, Václav Kyzlink / Sales Muzeum Karla Zemana / Distributor Asociace českých filmových klubů

About the director

Karel Zeman (1910, Ostroměř – 1989, Zlín, Czechoslovakia) was a Czech film director, artist, pupeteer and animator. After his post-war successes with the character Mr Prokouk, and with both glass (Inspiration, 1949) and cutout animation (A Treasure of Bird Island, 1952), he dazzled the film world with his special-effects masterpiece Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955). The movie magus then sealed his reputation with a series of feature films in which he conveyed the charm of naivety and the immortality of dreams, ideals, and venerable heroic deeds via artistic stylisation. In addition to Invention for Destruction, the director also created the internationally acclaimed films The Outrageous Baron Munchausen (1961), Two Years’ Vacation (1966) and On a Comet (1970). These were followed by the featuresThe Sorcerer’s Apprentice (1977) and The Tale of John and Mary (1980), created using cutout animation.