The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962)

Starring Milos Kopecky, Rudolf Jelinek, Jana Brejchova, Karel Hoger, Eduard Kohout
Directed by Karel Zeman
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After encountering an astronaut on the moon, the famed Baron Munchausen takes him back to Earth where they have adventures together and compete for the attentions of a beautiful princess.

Zeman once again utilizes live-action, animation, and intricate design to bring a famous fantasy story to life, adapting the stories of Munchausen, which, per Wikipedia, were reportedly based on a real German nobleman's propensity for relating tall tales.  Most of the film is lensed in black and white, but Zeman experiments quite a bit with color, tinting most of the scenes, and adding imagery like orange billowing smoke.  Kopecky cuts a fine figure as Munchausen, mustachioed in full uniform, but I found him to be not quite as dynamic in the role as I had imagined, although a definite highlight is his riding of a cannon ball over a battlefield, a direct reference to the character's literary origins.  There's also a great naval vessel conveyed by winged horses, all manner of sea creatures including a giant whale, and vibrant battle scenes with Munchausen typically taking on a whole army single-handed.  It's a fine tribute masterfully directed by Zeman, and well-executed by his team of craftsmen, but I found Kopecky and the rest of the cast somewhat limited in their ability and opportunities to perform.

Invention For Destruction (1958)

Starring Lubor Tokos, Arnost Navratil, Miroslav Holub, Frantisek Slegr, Vaclav Kyzlink
Directed by Karel Zeman
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

An inventor and his assistant are kidnapped and taken to a volcanic island where a nefarious lord hopes to coerce the inventor into creating a weapon of mass destruction.

This is a brilliant picture by Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman, based on the novels of Jules Verne, not specifically adapting any one adventure but recreating elements from many of them within the context of a serviceable story.  Visually it is extremely dynamic, placing live actors in between well-drawn backgrounds and foreground objects to create a three-dimensional like effect. Animation is added to not only bring Verne's creations to life, but to enhance each scene with realistic movement, and is done so well, it is hard to tell what is real and what is artifice.  Highlights include an underwater chase by one submarine after another, and an encounter between a gigantic squid and deep sea divers, among many other memorable sequences.  It's an exceptional production which was my first exposure to Zeman, on a library videocassette of the English-dubbed version of the film, under the title The Fabulous Adventures Of Jules Verne.

A Journey To The Beginning Of Time (1955)

Starring Vladimir Bejval, Petr Herrman, Zdenek Hustak, Josef Lukas
Directed by Karel Zeman
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Four boys journey through each of the prehistoric eras, encountering wild beasts and dinosaurs along the way.

Karel Zeman was a well-regarded Czech filmmaker, who used detailed backgrounds and animation to create fantasy films.  This film is one of his triumphs, using a cast of four youngsters that witness and interact with fantastic special effects, bringing creatures of the distant past to life.  Stop-motion animation is utilized, along with rear projection, full-sized creature models, and intricately drawn background images.  Although the movement of the animation isn't quite fluid, it is still accomplished and in many scenes quite realistic.  The showpiece of the film might be a gigantic stegosaurus, rendered in terrific detail, which the boys get up close to and climb over its sharp edged plates.  Although the film is more travelogue than narrative in some respects, the boys are frequently separated as they wander off in search of fantastic sights leading to dramatic situations.  The production is slow paced but there are new images to look forward to in each new setting and age the boys encounter.