On the Comet (1970)

Synopsis: Master of his own ingenious and extravagant brand of fantastical animated filmmaking, Czechoslovakian Karel Zeman culminates all of his past films and inspirations in presenting the absurd and... Master of his own ingenious and extravagant brand of fantastical animated filmmaking, Czechoslovakian Karel Zeman culminates all of his past films and inspirations in presenting the absurd and compelling ON THE COMET. Based on the story "Hector Servadec" by Jules Verne, the film follows the misadventures of a group of 19th century warring parties (a colonial army stationed in Africa battling the native forces) whose ridiculous and never ending strategizing and petty battles are interrupted by the arrival of a planet-sized comet on the horizon. As the comet flies past the earth in a storm of color flashes and lightening, it rips the small chunk of Africa away from the earth and carries it off into space. Faced with seemingly perpetual separation from the earth and all of its divisions and strife, the Africans and the Imperialists make peace and attempt to forge a utopian community. Mixing the look of antique photographic postcards with Victorian etchings, Zeman's inimitable style creates a fluid and whimsical mixture of live action and animation as well as comedy and drama, rendering the philosophical questions in Verne's text simultaneously striking and fabulously entertaining. [More]

Starring: Emil Horvarth, Magda Vasaryova, Josef Vetrovek, Frantisek Filipovsky

Starring: Emil Horvarth, Magda Vasaryova, Josef Vetrovek, Frantisek Filipovsky

Director: Karel Zeman

Director: Karel Zeman
Screenwriter: Jan Prochazka, Karel Zeman
Composer: Lubos Fiser

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