An Inventive Mind Colors Filmmaker Karel Zeman’s Art

Animator and filmmaker Karel Zeman (1910-89) is a little-known figure in the U.S., even among animation and fantasy fans. But “A Ship With Painted Sails: The Fabulous Animation of Karel Zeman!” a retrospective of his work at the American Cinematheque today through Sunday, reveals that as both an animator and director, he produced highly individual works that retain their charm and inventiveness for contemporary audiences.

Born in Ostromer, Czechoslovakia, Zeman began using puppet animation to make children’s films in the mid-1940s (various sources list his first film, “The Christmas Dream,” as being completed in 1943, 1944 and 1946.) In 1947, Zeman introduced Pan Prokouk (“Mr. Prokouk”), a befuddled little man who became the most famous character in Czech animation, in the animated short “Mr. Prokouk Leads a Brigade.”

Zeman continued the “Mr. Prokouk” shorts off and on through 1958, while exploring other media. In “Inspiration” (1948), blown-glass figures skate and frolic within a raindrop on a leaf--and provide ideas for an artist--who stares moodily out a rain-streaked window. (A program of Zeman’s short films screens tonight at 9:30.)

In “The Thousand and One Nights,” a feature-length compilation of shorts made between 1971 and 1974 (screening Sunday at 5 p.m.), Zeman blends stop-motion animation of puppet figures with two-dimensional cutouts and live-action special effects to narrate the adventures of Sinbad the Sailor.

In his features, Zeman treated filmmaking as a vehicle for fantasy, rather than re-creating reality. He turned his back on the realism animators and special-effects artists strove to attain during the ‘40s and ‘50s and looked to the work of artists from the dawn of cinema, when film was linked to sleight-of-hand magic.

He also drew on the novels of Jules Verne and the illustrations for them by Gustave Dore. In “The Fabulous World of Jules Verne” (1958; screening tonight at 7:20), adapted from “Face the Flag” and “Mysterious Island,” and “Off on a Comet” (1970; screening Saturday at 5 p.m.), based on the novel, Zeman photographed live actors on sets designed to look like Dore steel cuts.

Zeman pushes the idea of an illustration come to life even further in his most highly acclaimed feature, “Baron Munchausen” (1961, also known as “The Fabulous Baron Munchausen;” screening Friday at 7 p.m.). The effect of the Dore inspired sets is heightened by Zeman’s painterly use of color such as the cloud of red smoke that engulfs the out-sized arches and minarets of the Turkish sultan’s palace when the baron makes his daring escape.

In contrast to Terry Gilliam’s frenetic film version of the celebrated tall tales, Zeman’s Baron Munchausen is a suavely elegant 18th century aristocrat who regards the most fantastic adventures as everyday occurrences.

Zeman’s pacing is at times slow by modern standards, and the acting in these features seems superficial. But for sheer visual fantasy, his work has seldom been matched.

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* “A Ship With Painted Sails: The Fabulous Animation of Karel Zeman!” screens tonight through Sunday at the Lloyd E. Rigler Theater at the Egyptian, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; tickets: $8.; seniors and students, $7; American Cinematheque members, $6. Information: (323) 466-FILM or https://www.egyptiantheatre.com.