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''Krakatit'' is a 1948 Czechoslovak
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
mystery film A mystery film is a film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, ...
directed by
Otakar Vávra Otakar Vávra (28 February 1911 – 15 September 2011) was a Czech film director, screenwriter and pedagogue. Biography and career Vávra attended universities in Brno and Prague, where he studied architecture. During 1929–30, while still a stud ...
, starring Karel Höger as a chemist who suffers from delirium and regret after inventing a powerful explosive. The film is based on
Karel Čapek Karel Čapek (; 9 January 1890 – 25 December 1938) was a Czech writer, playwright, critic and journalist. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel '' War with the Newts'' (1936) and play '' R.U.R.'' (''Rossum' ...
's novel with the same title, written in 1922. The name is derived from the volcano
Krakatoa Krakatoa (), also transcribed (), is a caldera in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. The caldera is part of a volcanic island group (Krakatoa archipelago) comprising four islands. Tw ...
, which violently erupted in 1883.


Plot

A barely conscious, unidentified man is given intensive care by a doctor and a nurse. The man's hands are badly burned and cut. The doctor tells the nurse to give the man oxygen. A sequence begins where the man walks along a street while in a delirium. An old classmate, Jiří Tomeš, greets him and we learn that the man's name is Prokop. He speaks incoherently about an explosion and something he calls krakatit. Jiří brings him home and puts him in bed. In a dream, a university professor asks Prokop about krakatit. He answers that it is a powerful explosive, named after the volcano
Krakatoa Krakatoa (), also transcribed (), is a caldera in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. The caldera is part of a volcanic island group (Krakatoa archipelago) comprising four islands. Tw ...
, and explains its formula. As the dream ends we see that Jiří has written the formula down. Prokop wakes up alone in Jiří's apartment. He finds a note which says that Jiří has gone to see his father. Prokop opens the door when a veiled woman rings the bell. She begs Prokop to deliver a letter to Jiří. Prokop, still not recovered, decides to visit Jiří's father, a countryside doctor. An old mail carrier driving a horse
carriage A carriage is a two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for passengers. In Europe they were a common mode of transport for the wealthy during the Roman Empire, and then again from around 1600 until they were replaced by the motor car around 1 ...
in the snow gives Prokop a lift to help him visit Jiří´s father. Upon arriving he learns that Jiří has not visited his father in a long time and then Prokop collapses suddenly. Tended by the doctor and his daughter Anči, Prokop slowly recovers, but cannot recall what has happened. One day he reads in a newspaper a story about krakatit, which is being promoted by someone named Carson, and Prokop suddenly remembers the explosion in his laboratory. He rushes to the laboratory where he meets Carson, a representative from Balttin Works, a foreign weapon manufacturer. Carson explains that Jiří had sold them Prokop's stock of krakatit and the formula, and that their experiments with krakatit have shown that it is a highly dangerous explosive which can be detonated remotely from a great distance with high-frequency radio signals. However while they have the formula, they have failed to figure out the production procedure, and offer Prokop employment so he can work on their research. Prokop declines, but is brought to the Balttin palace by force and is set to work in a chemical laboratory. At the palace Prokop begins a romance with a princess whose name is Wilhelmina Hagen. Meanwhile, he realizes he actually is in love with the veiled woman from Jiří's apartment. The Balttin executive offers that he will arrange Prokop's marriage to the princess if the chemist gives them krakatit. In anger, Prokop blows up the laboratory where he has been held captive, and with his coat loaded with explosives he confronts the princess, whose face dissolves. Prokop escapes from the palace with help from an ambassador named d'Hémon. They then visit a secret society of former world leaders and weapon dealers, who worship war and hail Prokop as Comrade Krakatit. As tumult breaks out, a can of krakatit, originally from Prokop's old laboratory, is emptied and the members fight to gather some of the powder for themselves. Prokop and d'Hémon leave and briefly run into the veiled woman. D'Hémon brings Prokop to the top of a hill made of
magnetite Magnetite is a mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula . It is one of the iron oxide, oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetism, ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetization, magnetized to become a ...
, where Prokop's old laboratory has been relocated and turned into a secret radio station. They enter and d'Hémon makes Prokop push a button. This causes stockpiles of krakatit to explode in many capital cities of Europe, as thunderous detonations are heard in the distance. D'Hémon explains that the explosions are certain to trigger a great war which can be controlled from the radio station with krakatit. Prokop becomes furious and screams at d'Hémon, who disappears before his eyes. Prokop finds himself in a desolate, concrete landscape. He comes upon an enclosed factory, where he asks to see Jiří Tomeš. His requests is rejected, but he is allowed to meet a lab assistant, to whom he gives the letter from the veiled woman. Prokop walks away from the factory. After a while he sees it explode in the distance. The old mail carrier appears and gives Prokop a lift. The driver suggest Prokop should invent something that makes people's lives easier instead of killing people. Back at the hospital from the first scene, the doctor says that the patient now is breathing normally and the oxygen mask can be removed.


Cast

* Karel Höger as Prokop * Florence Marly as Princess Wilhelmina Hagen *
Eduard Linkers Eduard Linkers (11 October 1912 – 3 April 2004) was an Austrian actor. He appeared in more than 70 films between 1936 and 1988. Life He was born as Eduard Linker to a family of Jewish descent in Czernowitz, Austria-Hungary. He studied act ...
as Carson * Jiří Plachý as d'Hémon * Nataša Tanská as Anči Tomeš * František Smolík as Dr. Tomeš * Miroslav Homola as Jiří Tomeš * Vlasta Fabianová as the veiled woman / the revolutionist woman * Jaroslav Průcha as old mail carrier * Jiřina Petrovická as the nurse * Jaroslav Zrotal as the doctor * Bedřich Vrbský as Baron Rohn * Bohuš Hradil as Holz


Reception

The film premiered in Czechoslovakia on 9 April 1948. In 1951 it was released in the United States by Artkino Pictures. In ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', the film was called "a strident preachment for peace and against destructive nuclear fission, but basically it is clouded and halting drama." The critic wrote favourably about the performances of Höger, Marly, Tanská and Linkers, but felt: "Despite the adequate English subtitles, the rest of the cast moves through the scientist's dream world much like the robots invented by Čapek in '' R. U. R.'' They can't be blamed however, for ''Krakatit'' is sapped by a surfeit of symbolism." "Wear." of '' Variety'' found Florence Marly's performance "especially good" and the supporting cast was "unusually strong" while finding Vavra's direction "uneven, being routine in earlier passages and near the climax, but topnotch on the straight melodramatics." The review also praised the camera work of Vaclav Hanus and Kiri Srnka's musical score as "weird and unusual enough to fit the subject matter."


References


Sources

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External links

* {{Otakar Vávra 1948 mystery films 1948 films Czechoslovak black-and-white films 1940s Czech-language films Czechoslovak science fiction adventure films Films directed by Otakar Vávra 1940s science fiction adventure films Czech science fiction adventure films Czech mystery films Czechoslovak mystery films Films based on works by Karel Čapek Films scored by Jiří Srnka Slovak science fiction films