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Release: February 25, 2020

$6.99

Description

A one-of-a-kind silver-screen illusionist, Czechoslovak 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 Švankmajer, 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. THREE-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES • New 4K digital restorations of all three films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks • New programs with animation filmmaker John Stevenson and special-effects artists Phil Tippett and Jim Aupperle discussing director Karel Zeman and his complex visual trickery • Four early short films by Zeman: A Christmas Dream (1946), 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 by the Karel Zeman Museum profiling the director and detailing the production and effects of all three films • U.S.-release version of Journey to the Beginning of Time from 1960 • Alternate English-dubbed soundtrack for Invention for Destruction, and the opening sequence of the 1961 U.S.-release version • Restoration demonstrations and an interview with restoration supervisor James Mockoski • Trailers • New English subtitle translations • PLUS: An essay by film critic Michael Atkinson, along with limited-edition deluxe packaging featuring pop-up art JOURNEY TO THE BEGINNING OF TIME 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. INVENTION FOR DESTRUCTION 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. THE FABULOUS BARON MUNCHAUSEN In The Fabulous Baron Munchausen, Karel Zeman conjures the adventures of the legendary, boastful baron, whose whirlwind exploits take him from the moon to eighteenth-century Turkey to the belly of a whale and beyond. A kaleidoscopic marvel that blends live action with techniques including stop-motion, cutout collage, puppetry, painted backdrops, and antique tinting, Zeman’s film is an exhilarating visual delight and a warmhearted whirl through a bygone age too entrancing to have existed.

Release: November 19, 2018

$7.99

Description

Presented from new 4K restoration, Second Run are delighted to follow their hugely popular release of the great Czech animator and filmmaker Karel Zeman's The Fabulous Baron Munchausen, with his greatest and most famous work - Invention for Destruction. Often described as the Czech Méliès , visionary filmmaker Karel Zeman has been a profound influence on whole generations of film artists from Jan vankmajer to Tim Burton, the Quay Brothers to Terry Gilliam, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Wes Anderson. His ground-breaking innovations in the use of live-action and animation mark him as one of the great masters of 20th Century fantasy cinema, ranking alongside his more celebrated Western counterparts Willis O Brien, George Pal and Ray Harryhausen. Still the most commercially lucrative Czech film ever produced - released internationally to huge success in 1960 as 'The Fabulous World of Jules Verne' - Invention for Destruction is also Zeman's most beloved work. Wildly inventive, and breaking new ground in its combination of live action, animation and design, creating a 'steampunk' aesthetic decades ahead of its time. Zeman's film is both a heartfelt homage and love letter to Jules Verne's wonderful tales of science and adventure, and a valiant cry against man's predisposition to self-destruction. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS Invention for Destruction (Vynález zkázy, 1958) presented from a brand new 4K restoration of the film from original materials. Alternate English-dubbed feature presentation as The Fabulous World of Jules Verne, with alternate credits and opening introduction sequence. A new appreciation by filmmaker John Stevenson, director of Kung-Fu Panda and Sherlock Gnomes Karel Zeman s animated short films: Inspiration (Inspirace, 1949) and King Lavra (Král Lávra, 1950) Feauturettes: The Sea Through Zeman s Lens; Why Zeman Made the Film; Zeman's Special Effects Techniques; Restoring the World of Fantasy; About the Restoration Trailer Booklet featuring new writing on the film by film critic and historian James Oliver Region free Blu-ray and DVD Original soundtrack in 2.0 Dual Mono 24-bit LPCM audio