Three fantastic journeys by Karel Zeman
(DVD)

Title from container packaging.

Invention for destruction freely adapted from the writings of Jules Verne.

The fabulous Baron Munchausen is based on the works of Gottfried August Bürger, Gustave Doré.

Originally produced as motion pictures in 1955, 1958 and 1962.

Features: New 4K digital restorations of all three films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks; U.S.-release version of Journey to the Beginning of Time from 1960; Alternate English-dubbed soundtrack for Invention of Destruction, and the opening sequence of the 1961 U.S.-release version; New programs with animation filmmaker John Stevenson and special-effects artists Phil Tippett and Jim Aupperle discussion director Karel Zeman and his complex visual trickery; Four early short films by Zeman: A Christmas Dream (1945), A Horseshoe For Luck 1946), Inspiration (1949), and King Laura (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 produced by the Karel Zeman Museum profiling the director and detailing the production and effects of all three films; Restoration demonstrations and an interview with restoration supervisor James Mockoski; Trailers; New English subtitles translations; Plus an essay by film critic Michael Atkinson, along with deluxe pop-up art.

A journey to the beginning of time: screenplay, J. A. Novotný; cinematography, Antonín Horák and Václav Pazderník ; editor, Zdeněk Stehlík ; music, E.F. Burian.

Invention for destruction: screenplay, František Hrubín; director of photography, Jirí Tarantík ; editing, Zdeněk Stehlík ; music, Zdeněk Liška ; animations, Arnošt Kupčík, Jindřich Liška, František Krčmář.

The fabulous Baron Munchausen: Camera, Jirí Tarantík ; editing, Věra Kutilová ; music, Zdeněk Liška ; animations, Arnošt Kupčík, Jindřich Liška, František Krčmář.

A journey to the beginning of time: Petr Herrmann, Vladimír Bejval, Josef Lukáš, Bedřich Šetena.

Invention for destruction: Lubor Tokoš, Anrošt Navrátil, František Šlégr, Miloslav Holub, Václav Kyzlink, Jana Zatloukalová.

The fabulous Baron Munchausen: Miloš Kopecký, Jana Brejchová, Rudolf Jelínek, Karel Höger, Jan Werich, Rudolf Hrušínský

A journey to the beginning of time (1955 ; color): Youngest of four boys one day finds a fossil of trilobite. So his older friend take him on journey through prehistory to see real live trilobites and dinosaurs.

Invention for destruction (1958 ; black and white): An evil millionaire named Artigas plans to use a super-explosive device to conquer the world from his headquarters inside an enormous volcano.

The fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962 ; color): The outrageous Baron Munchausen tells of his many adventures, from meeting the Man in the Moon to defeating a Turkish army all by himself.

"A one-of-a-kind silver-screen illusionist, Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman devoted his career to transporting viewers to realms beyond their wildest imagining. The deft, breathtaking combinations of life action and animation techniques that he pioneered in the postwar years eanred him comparisions 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"--Container.

DVD, NTSC, region 1; full frame (1.37:1 aspect ratio); Dolby Digital mono.

In Czech with English subtitles.