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Ukradená Vzducholod
The Stolen Airship
The Stolen Balloon / Two Year's Holiday / Two Year Vacation / Il Dirigigile Rubato / Das gestohlene Luftschiff / I Ragazzi del Capitano Nemo
Czechoslovakia 1966
produced by
Václav Dobes, Dana Dudová, Jindrich Dvorak, Zdenek Stibor for Filmové Studio Barrandov, Filmové Studio Gottwaldov
directed by Karel Zeman
starring Jan Bor (= Hanus Bor), Jan Cizek, Jan Malát, Michal Pospísil, Josef Stránik, Jitka Zelenohorská, Jana Sedlmajerová, Vera Macku, Eva Kubesová, Marie Brozová, Stepánka Rehákova, Cestmír Randa, Miroslav Holub, Rudolf Deyl, Karel Effa, Stanislav Simek, Václav Trégl, Jaroslav Mares, Josef Vetrovec, Ladislav Navratil, Milos Nesvadba, Jan Teplý, Josef Haukvic, Milan Nedela, Václav Babka, Josef Hlinomaz, Jaroslav Stercl, Eduard Kohout, Zdenek Braunschläger, Frantisek Filipovský, Václav Svec, Zdenek Díte, Miroslav Homola, Antonín Soukup
screenplay by Radovan Krátky, Karel Zeman, based on the novel Deux Ans de Vacances by Jules Verne, music by Jan Novák, production design by Karel Zeman, sepcial effects by Frantisek Krcmár, Arnost Kupcik, Josef Zeman
Captain Nemo, Karel Zeman's Jules Verne adaptations
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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Circa the beginning of the 20th century: Flying is just making the
final steps from being science fiction to becoming reality, and all kinds
of weird blimps and air balloons rule the sky. The problem is of course
that balloon gas is highly flammable, but professor Findejs (Cestmír
Randa), a carnical promoter, claims to have found the formula for
inflammable gas - but then five boys (Jan Bor, Jan Cizek, Jan Malát,
Michal Pospísil, Josef Stránik) stel his blimp ... rather by accident, I
might want to add. They eventually travel half round the world before
their blimp goes up in flames (so much for inflammable gas), land on
Captain Nemo's (Václav Svec) mysterious island, and soon have to fight
pirates together with Katka (Jitka
Zelenohorská), a hostage of the pirates who has escaped her
captors. Meanwhile, back in the boys' hometown, their parents, Findejs,
the military, and of course foreign agents can't agree on a way to get
back the boys, the blimp and of course the formula for the (allegedly)
inflammable gas, and the whole place soon becomes a madhouse - until
reporter Marek persuades his paper to finance an expedition by air and by
sea to search for the boys, an expedition he leads on something best
described as a bicycle-blimp, followed close behind by enemy agent 13 in
his row boat balloon. When the boys are found, they have long defeated
the pirates, but when it's found out that Findejs' gas is anything but
inflammable, quite a few figures of society still regard the whole mission
a failure ... The Stolen Airship is pretty much your
typical Karel Zeman-film - and is great at that: It features a wide range
of special effects achieved by all kinds of different means (animation,
stop motion, back projection, blue screen, etc), and it brings a world
full of crazy inventions in the spirit of Jules Verne to life, using the
effects and retro futuristic production design that seem to go hand in
hand to create a world all of its own. True, it's a world free of realism
(most of the matte paintings look deliberately stylized), instead tries to
recreate the look and feel of old prints, and create atmosphere through
avant garde colour effects and deliberate reversal to black-and-white
filmmaking whenever the narrative demands it. But what really makes this
film a masterpiece is the fact that it's not just an exercise in style,
but it treats its subject matter with enough insight and irony to give the
film a heart as well. A great movie!
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