Budapest Classic Film Marathon: Invention for Destruction
black and white animation, 84 min, 1958
in Czech with Hungarian and English subtitles
Show times:
Director: Karel Zeman
Screenplay: Frantisek Hrubin, Karel Zeman,
Director of photography: Antonín Horák, Bohuslav Pikhart, Jirí Tarantík
Music: Zdenek Liska
Open Archives / The fantastical world of Karel Zeman
This film was for a long time the most successful Czech film. It is not the portrayal of a specific novel but like every Verne dream wrapped up in one; that said, a large part can be attributed to Jules Verne’s Facing the Flag. It depicts a procession of strange machines and flying contraptions while the graphics were inspired as much by the illustrators of Verne novels Riou, Pannemaker and Benett as Georges Méliès, the magician in the early days of film, for whom film was much a magic box as for Zeman. One stormy night, Professor Roch is kidnapped by pirates arriving in huge ships, who carry him off to the evil Atrigas. The plan is for the professor to make a weapon of the future, which the count can use to take over the world. Artigas, who inhabits an underwater domain, appears to be Captain Nemo’s evil twin. With its fantastical monsters and graphic backgrounds, this live-action animation sci-fi awaits rediscovery.
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2025.07.01 17:00 - 19:35
2025.10.18 19:00 - 22:30
2025.10.26 18:00 - 21:30
2025.11.08 19:00 - 22:30
2025.11.16 18:00 - 21:30
2025.11.22 19:00 - 23:15
2025.12.07 18:00 - 22:15
2025.12.13 19:00 - 22:15
2025.12.21 18:00 - 21:15
2025.12.26 11:00 - 13:00
Opening hours: Summer opening hours from June 26 to August 28, 2025! During this period, the box office opens on weekdays at 4:30 PM, on weekends at 10:30 AM.
Box office closes 15 minutes after the start of the last screening.
The Uránia Café is open during the opening hours of the cinema.
© Uránia Nemzeti Filmszínház
1088 Budapest, Rákóczi út 21.
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