Last evening I was undecided in what movie I should watch. The good news was I did not take the standard forty-five minutes to decide. The Criterion set dedicated to Czechoslovakian filmmaker Karel Zeman is most excellent. There was a flick I had yet to knock off: The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962, original Czech: Baron Prášil) is just that, Fabulous... and Wonderful.
My enjoyment level was such that the flick's eighty-three minutes just flew by.
The other two feature films in the Criterion boxed set are: Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955, original Czech: Cesta do pravěku) and Invention for Destruction (1958, Czech: Vynález zkázy), aka The Fabulous World of Jules Verne. Interesting story: Two of my film school instructors knew Karel Zeman ("Zee-maan") from back home. They seemed to be tickled when I told them that I had seen Journey and Invention on the big screen. My introduction to the latter was courtesy of at least two viewings on German television when I was a kid.
The extras are of typical Criterion quality. Filmmakers Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton, and Koji Yamamura talk of how Zeman influenced and inspired them. No doubt! Wes Anderson is another one.
Next: The 101-minute documentary from 2015, Film Adventurer Karel Zeman (Czech: Filmový dobrodruh Karel Zeman).
Genius filmmaker!
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