A scientific team is kidnapped by an evil millionaire and his band of pirates, with the hopes of using their research to build a superweapon.
Karel Zeman was born in the early 1900s in an area of Austria-Hungary now part of the Czech Republic. Starting off in the advertising field, Zeman worked with animation on television spots. After a period of extensive traveling, he joined a local animation studio, and within three years was the head of the stop-motion department, and had already created a beloved series of short films featuring the puppet character Mr. Prokouk.
Beginning in the mid 1950s, Zeman made four films based on the adventure novels of Jules Verne, often combining elements from various stories of together. He used innovative techniques to combine human actors in live-action with 2D and 3D models in stop-motion and other animation effects. After the success of
Journey to the Beginning of Time, Zeman was inspired further by Verne's work to recreate the woodcut engravings from the novels' original illustrations, and despite having worked previously in color, went to black & white for this desired aesthetic.
While the main storyline is taken from Verne's 1896 work
Facing The Flag, additional material appears to have been taken from more famous novels
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and
The Mysterious Island.
The line engraving look was achieved through matte paintings, treated archival footage, and costume design. Various traditional animation techniques were also used, inspired in part by the groundbreaking silent fantasy films by Georges Méliès (whose story featured in Martin Scorsese's
Hugo). Actors were encouraged to move in a stylized, stilted fashion.
The film was presented at the Brussels World's Fair (aka Expo 58), and won the Grand Prix at its film festival. It was a huge hit back in (then) Czechoslovakia, and was praised by French film critics. The rights were purchased by an American producer, who had it dubbed into English and retitled
The Fabulous World Of Jules Verne, resulting in a critical success and a Hugo Award nomination.
Zeman's work is still praised today for its imagination and innovation, counting Terry Gilliam, Wes Anderson, and Tim Burton among his admirers.
Running time is approx. 85 minutes.
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