Les aventures fantastiques

Original title: Vynález zkázy

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Costume Drama Hand-Drawn Animation Period Drama Adventure Animation Fantasy Sci-Fi

An evil millionaire named Artigas plans to use a super-explosive device to conquer the world from his headquarters inside an enormous volcano.An evil millionaire named Artigas plans to use a super-explosive device to conquer the world from his headquarters inside an enormous volcano.An evil millionaire named Artigas plans to use a super-explosive device to conquer the world from his headquarters inside an enormous volcano.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination total

Photos66

+ 59

Top cast10

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Lubor Tokos

Simon Hart

Arnost Navrátil

Prof. Roch

Miroslav Holub

Artigas
(as Miloslav Holub)

Frantisek Slégr

Kapitán pirátu

Václav Kyzlink

Ing. Serke

Jana Zatloukalová

Jana

Hugh Downs

Self - Announcer
(English version)
(voice)

Frantisek Cerný

Capt. Spade
(uncredited)

Otto Simánek

Muz ve vlaku
(uncredited)

Václav Trégl

User reviews28

7.53K

Featured reviews

10loufalce

A Masterpiece

Truly unique and stunning film of Jules Verne's "For The Flag" by the Czech master director Karel Zeman.Although the story is enacted in a rather understated late Victorian style, the visuals are a knockout. Zeman uses animation, graphics, painted sets, model animation combined with live action to create the atmosphere of Verne that the reader associates in his mind. The style resembles the steel engravings of Dore and Bennet and Riou that illustrated these stories with a healthy dose of Georges Melies added.Photographed in beautiful black and white the animation is of the highest order and not of a Saturday morning variety. There are underwater sequences where the fishes swimming about are so accurately drawn they can be used in a field guide.There are images of ships ,submarines, flying craft, castles,and machinery that are drawn in such accurate detail that one must have a freeze frame on his VCR or DVD to pause the scene and study the remarkable detail that went into this production.The late Victorian atmosphere is designed to look like this world that never was and delight us in the magic of science that made Verne the great father of the genre. If this is not enough, there also is the film score that probably is one of the best ever created for a fantasy or sci-fi film.Truly a forgotten classic, this one is worth hunting down and buying. Always one of my favorite films of all times, it is sure to be one of yours too. And remember- this was done decades before CGI or computer animation. Kudos to the great artists who obviously put their heart into it. It shows. Jules Verne himself would be proud of this movie.A film that deserves to be better known, but those who have seen it love it-and treasure it. An outstanding achievement , this remarkable film just gets better every time you watch it. A true cinematic work of art from a visionary director.

8jamesrupert2014

The first steam-punk movie?

The film is based more on Verne's vision of the future world than on a particular Verne story. There are pedal powered aerial-bicycles, aeronefs (including Robur's "Clipper of the Clouds"), formidable steam locomotives, massive canons, and, of course, submersibles. The plot follows the kidnaping of a scientist on the verge of a breakthrough in explosive technology (hint: it involves heavy water), who is taken to an aristocratic pirate's secret volcanic lair, and the attempts by his heroic assistant to escape, or at least to warn the outside world of the pirates' infamous plans. The film is a fascinating and surreal mélange of live action and animation, with much of the imagery based on the 19th century engravings that illustrated the original books. At times the animation resembles Georges Méliès' pioneering science fiction shorts (such as "Conquest of the Pole", 1912) and likely inspired the iconic Terry Gilliam images seen a decade later in "Monty Python's Flying Circus" (1969). "The Fabulous World of Jules Verne" is well worth viewing, both for its imaginative self as well as for its cinematographic novelty. I watched a fairly low-res version on You-tube but there may be a digital version available that would do justice to the intricate imagery.

8Man_With_a_Harmonica

A wonderful adventure movie with a unique look

The movie is based on a Jules Verne book I actually have read once, about ten years ago. I remember I liked the book a lot, and this movie does a good job in telling the story. The most important thing in this movie isn't the story, however, but the highly original visual look it has.

The visuals are absolutely beautiful, and they are apparently achieved by a clever combination of animated drawings combined with live actors, stop-motion animation and sets that are painted so that they look much like from an animated movie. Combined by Jules Verne's own unique versions of airplanes and submarines and Karel Zeman's good directing results in a very well done and convincing visual style that manages to effectively hold one's attention until the end of the movie.

There are some problems as well, one of the underwater scenes at the end takes maybe needlessly lot of time for example, as the story in the first part of the movie is rushed through quite quickly. None of this matters much though since the movie is always highly enjoyable. A gem that deserves to be more well known for today's audiences as well. A recommended movie for the whole family.

Sargebri

A Wonderful Film

This is one film that I wish they would start showing on television again. When I was a child, I really was knocked out by the special effects. I'm a sucker for any film that combines live action with animation and this film is no exception. What really made me take notice was how the sets reminded me of the pages of a book and how the characters were almost like the illustrations come to life. This is definitely a lost classic and I hope one day that it will be shown on television once again.

10horrorfilmx

Fantastic in every sense

Few films have ever captured the feel of a fantasy world better than this one. The opening sequence alone (no, I'm not talking about the Hugh Downes intro) is absolutely masterful, presenting us with a seemingly unending series of striking images done using a technique (described at length by other reviewers) I don't think has ever been used again in a feature. Fantastic planes, trains, and airships soar past evoking a sort of "steam-punk" atmosphere of retro technology before that term was ever coined. Film fans, Verne fans, fans of pure hand-crafted cinema artistry and imagination must do themselves a favor and check this movie out.

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The animation and production design are intended to evoke the woodcut illustrations of the original Jules Verne novels.

Goofs
There are a few single frames in the original release that have Karel Zeman posing his work. Several are during the small sub rescue in the underwater cave. The original American release still has these mistakes. The remastered versions have these taken out. These can still be seen in the bonus featurette that is included with the remastered Blu-ray Disc release.

Quotes
Himself - Announcer: [This first part is live and only in the original English release version that is sometimes cut out of television viewings] Hello! I'm Hugh Downs! This is a model of one of our newest submarines! A submarine similar to this recently sailed around the world without refueling and without once coming to the surface! Amazing isn't it! And this... a new jet passenger plane! Los Angeles to New York in less than five hours! Flies from New York to Paris in seven! It took Lindberg thirty-three hours to make that same trip! In the last hundred years the world has come astounding! The miracles of yesterday are now common everyday occurrences, and our frontiers, underwater, outer space are limitless! But of all the genius that walked this earth in the last hundred years, none is more remarkable then one man, with a magic pen! Of the many story tellers who have thrilled young and old a special ora will always surround the name Jules Verne! Verne's imagination has captured the minds and hearts of all of us! With him we have adventured to the center of the Earth! We have traveled twenty-thousand leagues under the sea! And we have soured in a balloon around the world in eighty days!
[from this point the following is Hugh Downs voice only, translating what was said in the original version]
Himself - Announcer: A hundred years ago in the confines of this small room, the unconfined imagination of Jules Verne created the fabulous shape of things to come! In these century old books lies the prophecy of our own era of atomic energy of the guided missile! The fantastic accuracy of Verne's predictions is demonstrated in the story you will now see on this screen! A story Verne wrote when the newest creations of science were the steamship and the primitive balloon! Our story is told in the words of his hero, Simon Hart! Just as Verne wrote it! Simon Hart was a man of the nineteen century! But these illustrations from the original book indicate that he saw the twentieth century sharp and clear! Now the droll delightful fabulous world of Jules Verne! Brought to life from these hundred year old illustrations by the miracle of "Misti-Mation"!

Crazy credits
"In the new motion picture technique Mysti-Mation" [US dubbed release]

Alternate versions
Some of the 16mm U.S. television syndication prints have Joseph E. Levine's opening credit, and the end title, replaced with a title card that reads "An Illusion Maker's Presentation."