Three Fantastic Journeys By Karel Zeman (DVD)

A one-of-a-kind silver-screen illusionist, Czechoslovak filmmaker Karel Zeman devoted his career to transporting viewers to realms beyond their wildest imagining. The deft, breathtaking combinations of live-action and animation techniques that he pioneered in the postwar years earned him comparisons to legends such as Georges Mlis, and an array of followers that includes Jan vankmajer, Terry Gilliam, and Wes Anderson. Presented here are three of Zemans most enchanting fantasiesa boys adventure into the mists of prehistory, a Jules Vernederived flight of fancy, and an exotic eighteenth-century tall taleall of them treasure chests of wondrous sights, tactile textures, and headlong yarn-spinning that helped put Czechoslovak cinema on the international map.JOURNEY TO THE BEGINNING OF TIMEA beguiling mix of natural history and science fiction, this early feature by Karel Zeman follows four schoolboys on an awe-inspiring expedition back through time, where they behold landscapes and creature