Invention for Destruction

Director: Karel Zeman

1958 / 84min / DCP

Retro-futurist Czech fantasist Zeman, who counts Terry Gilliam and Wes Anderson among his many admirers, took on the work of science fiction pioneer Jules Verne for the third time in this giddily, gorgeous undersea adventure film whose singular and seductive visual style, combining live-action, animation, and Méliès-esque handmade effects, approximates the look of the intricately hatched line engravings illustrating the original editions of Verne’s work. “Sustains the Victorian tone, with its delight in the magic of science, that makes Verne seems so playfully archaic.”—Pauline Kael, The New Yorker

Distributor: Janus Films

Part of The Weird and Wonderful World of Czech Animation