Product Details

• Directors: Karel Zeman
• Format: Full Screen, NTSC
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Studio: Movies Unlimited
• Run Time: 80 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00078MD1E
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #139,133 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

A truly unique adventure from Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman ("Baron Munchausen") which uses live-action, animation, puppets and engravings to tell a story based on "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "Mysterious Island" and other Verne tales. A scientist and his assistant working on an explosive new energy source are kidnapped by pirates hired by a nasty industrialist. Arnost Navratil, Miloslaw Holub star. AKA: "The Deadly Invention," "Vynalez Zkazy." 80 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English; scene access. Plays All Regions. These DVD's are produced by Nostalgia Family Video and Come in a "No Frillz" set. DVD titles come in clear clamshell packaging with no DVD menu and no individual title artwork.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Czech fantasy film, February 20, 2005

By 

Alan A. Powers - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fabulous World Of Jules Verne (DVD)

Karel Zeman is trully a cinematic magician. This film is an enchanting display of beautiful special effects and other visual treats brought to life with stop-motion. Made to look like an engraving, it was shot in black and white and is very much in the traditions of Georges Melies, except it is superior in storytelling and visual trickery. Zeman never had much of a budget for his films so they often fall down when compared with more recent effect-filled movies. However, unlike most of the production line films of today it has an endearing and unique charm that cannot fail to amaze children and adults alike.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great film- bad print, March 24, 2007

By 

catcameback (sf ca usa) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Fabulous World Of Jules Verne (DVD)

What could have been an incredibly beautiful movie has been sabotaged by an inexecusably bad transfer (from an original that probably wasn't all that great to begin with). An imaginative combination of live action, vintage engravings and animation, but the print is so bad it's practically unwatchable. So actually, 5 stars for the movie itself, 1 star for the quality.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique experiment in film that needs re-release., December 27, 2009

By 

Scott ""The Perfectionist"" (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fabulous World Of Jules Verne (DVD)

The Fabulous World of Jules Verne.
First of all, I would recommend that you take a look at this film on YouTube, where
you can see it saved in 8 parts. This would both save me much explanation and wet your appetite.
Even there, the quality has suffered greatly, but you can get an idea
of what the film was shooting for. It was filmed in Mystimation which tried to capture the feel of
the earliest photographic equipment and the feel of wonder around the turn of the century. I saw a
very good print of this movie about twenty years ago, and it is well worth the experience. There are
as yet, very few films that fit into the relatively new genre of 'Steam-punk' but this film should be
enshrined as it's great grandfather and is a must have for affectianados of that genre, Sci-fi and
Classic film. I urge you to add your voice to a call for a remastered version to be released on dvd.

UPDATE; I bought the copy offered here, and the DVD quality is actually pretty good and I am glad
I bought it. You probably wont find better in the near future.