As imaginative as any other film from Zeman, though the storytelling may feel rather laboured, as authorities try to find several missing boys onboard a new airship that has flown away.
Review #2,845
Dir. Karel Zeman
1967 | Czechoslovakia | Adventure, Drama | 90 min | 1.85:1 | Czech
Not rated – likely to be PG
Cast: Michal Pospisil, Hanus Bor, Jan Cizek, Josef Stranik, Jan Malat
Plot: Five young boys take off in a lighter-than-air machine from the Centenary Exposition in Prague, with the authorities and the press on the chase.
Awards: –
Source: Karel Zeman Museum
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Light/Family – Exploration; Technology; On the Chase
Narrative Style: Straightforward
Pace: Normal
Audience Type: Slightly Mainstream
Viewed: Screener
Spoilers: No
The Stolen Airship is a later career work by the Czech extraordinaire Karel Zeman, who gave us the likes of Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955) and The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962), landmark films that showcased his endless creativity and innovation as he dabbled with live-action, animation and special effects, often in the same frame.
While not as celebrated in his filmography, The Stolen Airship should interest fans looking for ‘more of the same’ from the filmmaker as an adventure unfolds that sees a group of young boys unexpectedly take off on a newly designed airship paraded in the heart of Prague by a rich man as a technological breakthrough.
The boys seem unfazed by the prospect of the airship blowing up or crashing into the intimidating mountains and fierce seas below them.
Like with most Zeman films, a healthy disregard for realism is needed, not just in terms of its visual design but also if it had been any other film, many of these buffoonery characters would have perished in absurd ways.
“Be glad that you are flying.”
But we put faith in Zeman’s wondrous spirit of imagination, even though our faith here is less strong, particularly in the storytelling, which at times seems to labour on.
As the authorities try to find the missing boys, some conniving men hope to steal secret info about this new airship.
These narrative threads are not new and not exactly exciting to a seasoned cinephile but as the opening credits say, the film is based on the world of Jules Verne, so do expect to see or hear some familiar things or names like Captain Nemo and his submarine.
If Invention for Destruction (1958) momentarily gave us a giant octopus as an undersea foe, we have a rather unfortunate shark here as an attraction.
Grade: B
Trailer:
Eternality Tan 