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Czech - Imagination

Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians

Oldrich LIPSKÝ

Czech Republic1981 97 min 35mm C Korean Premiere

Synopsis

Naive Duke Teleke of Tölökö and his servant are trying to find duke´s fiancée, an opera diva, which mysteriously disappeared some time ago. They found she might be kidnapped by evil Baron Gorc, who - with his friend, mad scientist Orfanik - lives in the mysterious Devil´s castle deep in the Carpathian mountains. Czech slapstick comedy is very freely based on non-humorous Jules Verne novel Castle of the Carpathians. This film is a typical sample of a successful tradition of Czech film comedies with science fiction and fantastic motifs. It is also a sample of so-called ‘steampunk’ film, long before this term has been coined in the late 1980s for a cyberpunk sub genre whose science fiction events take place against the 19th century background. (Jaroslav Olsa, jr)

Diretor

Oldrich LIPSKÝ

One of the most popular directors of Czech film comedies for both children and adults. His most famous film is Lemonade Joe (1964), a parody on US western movies. Also directed almost a dozen of SF- and fantastic-related comedies, such as Greetings from the Earth (1982) about a visit of two aliens to contemporary Czechoslovakia, and Gentlemen, I Killed Einstein (1969), time travel comedy.