Rent Invention for Destruction (1958)

Warm Below the Storm - Invention for Destruction review by CH

Magical. The word has become overused, but there is no other adjective for Karel Zeman’s Invention for Destruction (1958). To describe it is to convey only a part of the effect it has. This is far from the routine would-be thrills of those who try to adapt Jules Verne. In this case, a lesser-known novel provides the background in which a gang of pirates, who operating from a hidden cave, have as part of their fleet a submarine. This plys a fish-laden ocean bed from which it rises to plunge into the hull of many a ship so that, as those crews drown, men in suitable suits emerge from the submersible to requisition trunkloads of treasure.

Add to this a beautiful surviving young woman and a kidnapped inventor, and you might imagine the hand of Hammer.

But no, Zeman’s work comprises animation, hand-drawn backgrounds sometimes traversed by a human cast which, now and then, morphs into stop-go techniques, all of which had an effect upon, among others, Terry Gilliam.

When the world has staled of computer-generated imagery, it will return to the sheer beauty of something which time and again has one going “wow!” - not least when an octopus does its stuff.

Never has black and white been so colourful.

Mystimation - Invention for Destruction review by SY

Visually stunning and unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Somehow Zeman has managed to blend the aesthetic of wood engraving with live action. You can’t help but try to pick apart the techniques being used, which is made all the more possible thanks to this HD (Blu-ray) release. In contrast I found the plot to be thin and had completely lost focus by the end, so my rating is almost entirely based on the film’s technical brilliance. But technically brilliant it is.