WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Invention for Destruction 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:05.360 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind production of My 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:15.520 Heart Radio. Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. My 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:19.119 name is Rob Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and today 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:21.600 I'm Weird House Cinema. We're going to be talking about 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:27.680 Carl Zaman's nineteen fifty eight science fiction adventure film Invention 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:32.400 for Destruction, which is a loose adaptation of the works 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:36.000 of Jules Fern rendered in I would say one of 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:42.640 the most astonishing and wonderful visual animation styles I've ever seen. Yeah, 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:46.800 this film is absolutely gorgeous, especially if you see it 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:50.159 in the restored form. And I'll say it again, but 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:52.840 if you are inspired to go seek out this work 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:56.000 after this episode, or you haven't seen it in many, 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:58.720 many years, do yourself a favor. Watch it in the 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:01.360 best quality post of all the I think it's like 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:06.720 about a two thousand, eighteen or seventeen restoration is absolutely amazing. Uh, 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:09.120 And this is the one you should watch. So I 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:11.800 first became aware of this filmmaker when my friend Ben 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:14.880 came over to show me another movie of his. A 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:18.039 later one, his adaptation of the Baron Munko's in Story, 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.440 which is also wonderful. But while that one is more fantasy, 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.679 this one is more firmly science fiction. And I think 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:31.520 it's very interesting how the style of this movie interacts 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:34.720 with the science fiction content, because I think you could 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:38.440 argue that many decades before anybody actually said this word, 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:43.560 or before this concept existed, this movie is steampunk. Yeah. Yeah, 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:47.520 it has a very strong flavor of steampunk to it. 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:52.080 It is this um unreal future, this sort of you 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:54.480 can guess, you could call it like an alternate timeline 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:58.400 future of where technology well I'm not gonna say it 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:01.200 might have gone there, but this is the future based 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:06.360 on some futurist optimism of the previous age. But also, 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:08.720 this is a thing, Rob, I don't know if you 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:13.000 had the same experience. I had a hard time forcing 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.320 myself to remember that this movie was actually made in 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:19.680 nineteen fifty eight, so this movie came out after Attack 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:22.920 of the Crab Monsters. This was released the same year 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:27.320 as Fiend Without a Face. Because to me, it's so 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:33.680 convincingly evoked the world of sort of techno futurist optimism 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:37.760 in say, eighteen seventy, that I actually kept slipping into 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:41.840 a mindset of like I'm watching a film from eighteen seventy, 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:44.359 which of course is impossible. Yeah, it has a kind 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:47.000 of timeless feel to it, and it's crazy to to 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:48.800 look at this film, which again is based on some 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:52.120 of the works of Jules Verne, has a giant cephalopod 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:56.320 in it, again from nineteen fifty eight, and then compare 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:59.760 it to Disney's nineteen fifty four Jules Verne adaptation of 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:02.640 twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, which, granted, these are 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:06.040 two very different films from very different film environments. Ones 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:08.520 in color, one is in black and white. But yeah, 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:11.560 this film seems to be coming from a time all 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.799 its own, or it just feels timeless. It doesn't feel 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:19.919 shackled to the late nineteen fifties by any stretch. Yeah. Yeah, 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:22.960 And not to put down the Disney twenty Thousand Leagues 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:26.680 because of course, yeah, Kirk Douglas is ned Land, Peter Laurie, 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:30.200 and James Mason as Captain Nemo. What a cast. But 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:33.200 also it has some great special effects too, so I 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:35.720 don't want to put it down too much, but it 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:38.560 does feel like a film made in the nineteen fifties, 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:40.960 and it feels like a product of the nineteen fifties. 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:45.320 Invention for Destruction is from a past and a future 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:49.360 that never existed. Yeah, it's unlike anything I think we've 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:52.920 really watched on the show before, because I mean, certainly 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:55.120 it is an adventure tale, it's a science fiction tale. 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:58.400 We've watched plenty of those, yet, like twenty Thousand Leagues 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:00.920 Under the Cea and and very films that we've watched 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:04.080 for weird house cinema, it's very much a special effects 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.840 spectacle in which pretty much every shot in the film 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:11.320 includes some manner a special effect. Yes, I totally agree 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:14.840 with that, and I think one of the real unique 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:18.559 pleasures of this movie, but maybe more of of Carl 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:23.120 Zeman's filmmaking in general, is that the special effects are 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:28.160 applied not only to spectacular scenes and moments. You know, 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:32.240 it's not just when there's like a great explosion or 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:36.120 when there's a fantastic machine on screen. There are beautiful 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:39.599 visual effects for just like a room with a staircase 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:42.800 and a table, or like a man sitting in a 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:46.320 shack that is dilapidated and a bird flying through the air. 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:50.520 Like the special effects are applied to, you might say, 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:55.320 not very special content of the narrative and in applying 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:59.080 them that way, they kind of bring mundane details to 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:03.640 a kind of weird heard in surreal life. Yeah, I 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.120 thought A really great point on all of this was 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:10.520 brought up by British filmmaker in Puppeteer John Stevenson, who 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:13.440 does a little intro on the excellent second run Blu 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:16.040 Ray release of the restored film that I watched that 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:18.479 I actually I rented from Video Drum here in Atlanta. 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:22.800 They have a great um, a great selection of of 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:26.520 Carl Zammon's films. But anyway, in this little little bit, 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:29.520 Stevenson points out that while plenty of other special effects 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.440 films of the era even were great and required a 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:39.080 willful suspension of disbelief, invention for Destruction embraced stylish artificiality. 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:41.520 Every shot in the film is not only a product 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.680 of special effects, but a hand crafted special effects artifacts 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.880 brought together to create this singular vision that again is 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:54.720 not it's not about tricking you into thinking this is real. Um, 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:58.000 it's uh, it's it creates its own artificial world that 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:00.560 you buy into. You know, this is funny, And how 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:03.039 it connects to a conversation we had on last week's 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:06.960 episode about Jason X about special effects. For me personally 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:09.400 and I think for a lot of other film fans, 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:13.320 to realism is not the only measure of of what 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:16.080 makes a special effect good. It's it's not just good 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:19.760 if it looks convincingly like the camera has captured a 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.440 real instance of what is supposed to be happening in 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:25.800 the narrative, be that actually a spaceship flying through the air, 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:29.320 or actually a submarine fighting a giant octopus or something. 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:33.200 There's a quality that you can seek beyond realism, which is, uh, 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:37.839 you know, a kind of pleasing artistic integrity. It's something 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:41.680 kind of close to realism in that there's that integrity element, 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.120 like the the effects have to all kind of work together, 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:48.200 and they have to believe in their own magic in 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:51.000 a way, but they don't have to necessarily look real. 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:55.279 They just have to look right. Yeah. Weirdly, a film 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:58.480 that comes to mind that really has nothing in common 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:01.800 with it, uh in in so many ways except for 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:06.400 this commitment to a stylish artificiality, would be the with 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:10.280 the the Rodriguez adaptation of the Sin City comic books. 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:12.280 Not a not a film I'm in a hurry to 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:14.120 watch again right now. I feel like it's kind of 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:17.840 a kind of a violent, nasty film in many respects, 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:22.800 but it does really commit to an artificial film world 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:26.200 that you buy into that that that doesn't feel like 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:29.400 a distraction but an enhancement. I know exactly what you mean, 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:31.239 and I see why you would compare it to Invention 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:35.040 for Destruction. Not again, they don't. They're not esthetically similar 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:37.160 in any way, but what they have in common is 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:42.120 a sort of total commitment to deep integration of like 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:45.320 animation and various types of special effects with the live 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:49.720 actors in a way that that you sort of stop 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:52.800 seeing as special effects and it just becomes this other world. 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:55.200 This is just a different type of world. There's our 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:58.160 world where it's all three D objects and live actors, 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:00.480 and then there's this other type of world where they're 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:06.080 actors who ride inside hand drawn locomotives and like animated 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.200 birds fly around between the blades of a propeller and 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:12.840 an airship. Yeah, it's um, I mean, this is a 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.200 film you really really just you need to watch it. Um. 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:17.720 We can talk about it all day, but but you 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:20.160 need to see it to understand what we're talking about here. 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:22.680 Because some of the some of the aspects of it 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:24.840 are are are kind of it's kind of hard to 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.560 understand how they work if we're just describing it, because yeah, 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:33.480 you have this wonderful combination of live action performances by 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:37.920 human actors, these kind of two D sets and environments UM, 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:42.840 stop motion animation, more traditional two D animation, UM. But 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:45.800 you never feel like it's cobbled together, as you might 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:48.839 feel with special films like say, uh, you know some 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:51.959 of the various films that poorly integrate practical and digital effects, 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:56.120 or even films that have say, stop motion monster scenes 0:08:56.280 --> 0:09:00.360 mixed with a costume a monster effect and something feels 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:03.679 off about it, Yes, totally. And so it has all 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:07.200 these different um film styles and effects styles coming together 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:11.160 within each frame, but it has this deep blended integrity. 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.080 They are all parts of a machine working together, and 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:18.280 that machine is cranking. And there are other movies like this, 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:20.560 but um, a lot of the other movies that that 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:23.560 combine these different effects styles often I think the bar 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:26.120 is realism. I don't want to get ahead of you, Rob, 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:27.880 but I think you were going to invoke the example 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.040 of Jurassic Park, which I think is a great example 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:35.199 of a film that effectively combines different effects styles uh 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:38.240 into this integrated whole and it works very well. But 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:41.400 what they're going for is trying to create the impression 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:44.400 of a real dinosaur, and that's not what Zamon is doing. 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:47.640 But he's doing something at least equally beautiful, probably much 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:50.840 more beautiful, I think. Yeah. Like I said, this film 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:54.040 embraces the artificiality in a way that Jurassic Park didn't, 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:56.959 and Jurassic Parts effects are amazing in that they don't. 0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:59.920 It's just a totally different approach to how you present 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.440 in saying a world on the screen. Yeah. Like, Well, 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:04.200 one thing I was also I also kept thinking about 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:07.520 watching this film is the performances and the plot are 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:11.800 against science fictional uh, but also pretty straightforward. There's nothing 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:14.960 really dream like about the plot of the film for 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:18.040 the most part, but the visual language of the film 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:20.680 really does feel like the etchings in a printed book 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:23.920 have been brought to life through magic, or that we've 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:27.240 partially entered a world through the looking glass. You know, 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.200 much about the movie makes you kind of ask what 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:34.040 reality is this? And there are there are elements actually 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:37.080 other than the visuals I'll refer to in a minute, like, 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:41.079 for example, the movies relationship to its literary subject matter 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:45.000 kept making me think, like, what is reality here? But 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:47.439 we'll save that question from when we talk about Jules Verne. 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:49.679 All right, well, what would you what would you say 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:52.800 the elevator pitches for this film, Joe, Oh, I didn't 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:54.880 write one ahead of time. But how about a brilliant 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:58.360 but absent minded scientist is on the verge of creating 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:02.080 the world's most powerful weapon, though he's not very concerned 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:06.280 with its practical uses. Um, he is kidnapped by a 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:10.559 pirate king and his work will be put to questionable ends. 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:14.720 How will he and his lowly assistant deal with this situation? Yeah, 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:16.560 I think that pretty much captures it. It's a it's 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:19.680 a it's a film full of flying machines, other spectacular 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:24.880 vessels of the ocean, um, super science, and all of 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:28.040 it like a nineteenth century illustrated Jules Verne novel, just 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:32.439 brought to stunning life. That's another thing that I've read, Robin. 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:35.439 I don't know how much the introduction by the puppeteer 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.200 addressed this, but one thing I saw alleged was that 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:43.640 the animation style of Invention for Destruction was especially geared 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:49.280 toward essentially making the hand drawn engravings and illustrations that 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:54.680 accompanied Jules Verne novels of the nineteenth century, like making 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:59.800 those into a film texture. Yeah, that's my understanding. They 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:02.400 there's a bit on this blue ray that I was 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:07.480 watching that had some interview segments with his daughter, Zaymon's daughter, 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:11.559 and she mentioned, you know, his inspiration being these, uh, 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.720 these various illustrated Jules Verne books that he would just 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:18.120 you know, pour over and would just be totally enraptured by. 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:21.520 And and a lot of that is is visible in 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:25.520 the use of lines, so that there'll be a lot 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:29.360 of say, horizontal lines in a given scene. Um. Also 0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:31.960 in the costumes there will be a lot of horizontal 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:35.040 or vertical lines, all of this helping to create this 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:40.400 idea of wood grains in the the illustration. And z 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:43.679 Aymon's daughter also mentions like helping her father on the 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:46.600 on the production. Uh, you know, she was young at 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:47.800 the time, but he's like, hey, do you want to 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:51.120 come in and draw lines on costumes and so and 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:54.319 so there's apparently a great deal of that wonderful Oh 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:58.160 that's so sweet. One thing we should also point out, um, 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:01.520 before we move on, is I really we've done. Is 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:05.439 this our third Check or Czechoslovaka movie on on weird House? 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:09.719 It is? So far we've done nineteen seventies Fruit of Paradise, 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:13.080 that was the very Chidlova movie. Yeah, yeah, and there'll 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:15.720 be a connection to that in this film. And then 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:18.640 also while you were out on going to leave Seth 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:23.240 and I talked about John Stuck Buyers Alice from Awesome. Yeah. 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:25.760 So it's uh, and and we're probably not done that. 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:28.680 It's possible that we'll do another Check film next week. 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:31.320 I have to watch it on my own to see 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:33.800 how it will fit. But yeah, I mean, Check cinema 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:36.480 is a rich well to draw from. It's not a 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:40.960 cinematic world that I feel as versed in as other 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:45.400 things like you know, Spanish horror or an Italian Jallow 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:49.280 cinema and so forth. They're certainly American British film. But yeah, 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:51.440 there's just so much there and and so much that 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:56.239 is new to me. If only one of these beautiful 0:13:56.360 --> 0:13:59.200 weirdo Check directors could have made a movie with Paul 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:03.559 Nashy in it, like a Paul Nashy Werewolf film directed 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:08.319 by Carl Zaman or Vera Chidlova m. Well, let's keep 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:11.079 that in mind, because I'm I'm curious what this film 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:14.120 I'm going to check out feels like, you know, the 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:16.199 one I'm gonna look at has some sort of gothic 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:19.320 horror elements to it. All right, well, let's go ahead 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:22.480 and hear the English language trailer for this film. This 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:24.200 is a good places. They need to mention that this 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:28.360 film was released in America as The Fabulous World of 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:31.520 Jules Verne, and so this is the This is the 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:33.080 trailer for it. And I think this will work better 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:35.360 for our English language listeners because you'll get to hear 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:40.200 this old timey narration talking up the worlds of Jules Verne, 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:49.000 brought to live on the screen. From the Fantastic Jules Verne, 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:52.160 creator of Around the World in eighty Days, comes now 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:55.560 the most fabulous adventure on over or under the Earth, 0:14:56.400 --> 0:15:00.800 the first potion picture produced in the Magic Image Miracle estimation. 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:06.880 Wonders never before seen will unfold before your startled eyes. 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:14.480 Fantastic aircraft, fly the Skies, electronic machines, an incredible sea 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:38.040 battle adventure in the mouth of a blazing volcano, underwater 0:15:38.200 --> 0:16:07.040 escape from Chara Island. The Fabulous World of Jules Burn 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:10.520 brings you the master storyteller of our time, with wonders 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:14.760 to delight and excite and stir your imagination. The fabulous 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:20.320 world of Jules Burn. Show them down, Show them down, 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:36.360 all right, before we jump in further, it just remind everyone. Yeah, 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:37.680 if you want to watch this film for yourself, and 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:40.440 we highly recommend you do, the second run blue ray 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:42.840 edition is amazing. That's the one I watched it on, 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:45.960 but you can also stream it via the Criterion Channel 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:48.000 if you subscribe to that service or want to do 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:50.600 a like you know, the free intro month deal on 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:54.400 that um. Again, if you do watch it, make sure 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:58.840 that it's I believe four K restoration because it is gorgeous. 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:02.000 There is also some a little extra on the disc 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:04.560 I watched that showed them restoring and showing like all 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:07.240 the various things they had to do to clean it 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:10.600 up and just get it get the film looking just 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:15.280 so splendid. The restoration does look wonderful, like the the 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.760 the lines are so crisp, you know, it is like 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:22.800 a Durors copper pen had just left the page or 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:25.480 the wood block. It's it's amazing. Yeah, and the extra 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:28.160 is John Stevenson, the British filmmaker in Puppeteer. I believe 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:29.719 he was one of the directors in the first Kung 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:32.920 Fu Panda film. For example, he has this whole bit 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:36.040 talking about how as a child he glimpse part of 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.320 this film on British television I don't know, like some 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:42.520 sort of kids morning show or something, and just needed 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:44.560 to see it. And even at one point, I believe 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:47.600 as a child like wrote to the um the check 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:50.879 embassy to see if you could get a copy, uh yeah, 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:52.680 And then for the longest apparently it was it was 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:54.679 kind of hard to get a copy of it. Like 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:57.320 he's talking about, I think a lot of film fans 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:01.040 who were seeking out films and you know, the in 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:03.640 the nineties and the early two thousands have this experience 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:07.040 where you're having to turn to things like um uh, 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:10.119 you know, like dubbed copies and you know, it's a 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:12.640 it's a it's a copy of a disk from another region. 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:15.879 He says. At one point, um, there was a Japanese 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:18.040 edition that came out with a number of Ziman's films 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:20.439 in it, but it was just tremendously expensive, but he 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:22.239 had to buy it, so he spent like all of 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:25.639 his available funds getting it, and so you know, finally 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:28.080 building up to the day when not only is the 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:31.920 film widely available, but it's widely available and just splendid 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:36.639 restored quality. That is something we don't often stop to appreciate, uh, 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:39.639 in the present day, Like how how fortunate we are 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:41.720 that a lot of these great old films are available 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:44.320 now and that there's so much easier to see than 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:47.240 they used to be in and often beautifully restored form. 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:51.680 And that's the painstaking work of many experts. Yeah, even 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:54.000 films that maybe, like I don't know if you could 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:57.000 make an argument that maybe Assignment Terror didn't need to 0:18:57.119 --> 0:19:00.080 be so splendidly restored, but but they did it, and 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:03.600 thank goodness they did. Oh what why would you say 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:06.080 it didn't need? Of course it does. That's history. I 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:09.680 don't know. I guess some films, you know, some films 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:11.320 I guess you could make an argument for like the 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:14.639 grittiness of the original medium can sort of add to 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:16.639 the experience. It will be part of the nostalgia for 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:21.480 a given film. I've also seen effects people discuss how 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:24.840 older mediums allowed them to sort of cover up the 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:28.080 limitations of their effects at times, you know, and and 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:30.080 and uh, you know, the stuff that might have worked 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:33.080 on VHS suddenly oh they now they have it out 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:34.920 on DVD or Blu ray and you can really see 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:37.600 the scenes. You were never meant to see this wire 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:40.199 effect in four K. It worked great on a on 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:43.600 a grainy VHS. Yeah, and I mean I understand they've 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:45.520 had to go back and do some of that, even 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:48.280 on productions like Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, and they're just 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:51.320 some you know, the the quality that we have now 0:19:51.400 --> 0:20:04.399 wasn't necessarily um, something they were taking into account. All right, Well, 0:20:04.440 --> 0:20:07.440 let's get into the people here. Uh So Carl's Aiman. 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:11.400 Uh the director also has adaptation and scenario credits, production 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:14.880 design credits, and special effects credits that they had other 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:17.240 individuals working with him on the special effects as a 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:21.120 whole crew here. Uh. He lived nineteen ten through nine. 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:25.959 Highly influential Czech filmmaker and animator, best remembered for his 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:29.840 combination of animation and live action, though I believe there 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:32.640 there are films and short works of his that are 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:36.720 more purely animation, but this is a great example of 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:41.080 one that utilizes multiple forms of animation and live performances. 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:45.560 You'll find many many filmmakers that signed him as an influence, 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:48.960 and they include the likes of Jans Punkmya himself, uh, 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:52.600 Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, which seems like a no brainer 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:56.120 when you think about Terry Gilliams uh use of animation, 0:20:56.200 --> 0:21:01.000 especially during the Monty Python years. Absolutely, I see Hugh Zaman, 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:03.680 d n A and and Terry Gilliam work m H. 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:07.920 John Stevenson obviously Wes Anderson as well, And I think 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:10.560 that's very telling because even as I was watching the 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:13.639 film before I knew that that Wes Anderson, you know, 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:16.040 had had had had said this before. I think of 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:18.520 The Life Aquatic and I think of the way that 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:22.440 the Bellefonte, the the vessel there, the way it's presented 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:27.760 um at times takes on this kind of embraced artificiality. Yeah, totally, 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:30.960 and the c Life as well. I think, um, if 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:32.879 memory serves, it's been a little bit since I've seen that, 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:35.240 but that of course it's a wonderful film. Oh yeah, 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:39.880 there's some invention for destruction E Sharks, I think is Yeah, 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:42.600 it's been a long time, but yeah. So Zamon produced 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:44.960 a number of short films over the years, and multiple 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:49.040 full length pictures, most of which are at least loosely 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:52.640 sci fire, fantasy and genre. Prior to filmmaking, who worked 0:21:52.640 --> 0:21:56.920 in advertising and poster design, his films include The Treasure 0:21:56.960 --> 0:22:00.440 of Bird Island, Journey to Prehistory, Baron Munch co Housen, 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:04.720 Adjuster's Tale, The Stolen Airship, which is another Jewels Verne picture, 0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:08.120 kind of a mashup of tales, um On the Comet, 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:11.160 which is a Jewels Verne adaptation, Tales of a Thousand 0:22:11.160 --> 0:22:14.840 and one Night's Crabbitt, The Sorcerer's Apprentice that's when that one, 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:17.240 I believe is fully animated, and The Tale of John 0:22:17.280 --> 0:22:21.720 and Mary. Those are, of course all English translated titles 0:22:21.800 --> 0:22:25.080 they have. The original titles are all check titles. I 0:22:25.080 --> 0:22:27.080 feel like I'm gonna have to eventually see all of those. 0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:30.639 All those sound very interesting. Um and I believe his 0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:32.720 I was reading. And when it comes to awards in 0:22:32.840 --> 0:22:36.520 granted awards, especially you know, uh you know, Western awards 0:22:36.600 --> 0:22:39.439 or not, uh not the be all and end all 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:43.639 to all this. But his short from nineteen I Believe 0:22:44.080 --> 0:22:50.280 a Christmas Story or Venanci Sin this one best short 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:53.280 film at the CONNS Film festival. Oh and if you 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:56.000 find yourself in Prague, there is a museum dedicated to 0:22:56.040 --> 0:23:00.119 his work, the Museum Carla Zamana. I believe, so if you, 0:23:00.560 --> 0:23:03.000 if you, if you live in Prague or visiting Prague, 0:23:03.080 --> 0:23:05.160 or have visited Progue and have gone to this museum, 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:07.800 definitely right in and tell us all about it. Now. 0:23:07.840 --> 0:23:11.240 We've focused a lot on the on the effects and 0:23:11.240 --> 0:23:14.040 the visual style of the movie, but there's also I 0:23:14.080 --> 0:23:16.520 think a lot of interesting stuff to say about the 0:23:16.600 --> 0:23:19.960 narrative content of the film. And one thing here is 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:23.400 that while there is one major work that I think 0:23:23.440 --> 0:23:26.359 you could say this is most adapted from, uh, and 0:23:26.400 --> 0:23:29.600 that's a Jules Verne novel called Facing the Flag. In 0:23:29.720 --> 0:23:32.280 other ways, it's a very much a mash up. It's 0:23:32.320 --> 0:23:36.200 just sort of a you know, it's a blender smoothie 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:42.560 full of nineteenth century science fiction ideas, primarily from Jules Verne. Yeah, 0:23:42.640 --> 0:23:47.560 Jules Verne through nineteen o five, the legendary French novelist, poet, 0:23:47.600 --> 0:23:52.120 and playwright. Uh. Some have even you know today will say, oh, well, 0:23:52.119 --> 0:23:54.720 he was kind of a futuristic prophet, you know. He 0:23:54.720 --> 0:23:59.679 he described these various technological achievements and uses that would 0:23:59.720 --> 0:24:02.440 come to fruition. Uh. They were even saying this daring 0:24:02.560 --> 0:24:06.080 Verne's own lifetime, and he tended to deny such praise 0:24:06.160 --> 0:24:08.960