Cesta do praveku (1955)

Directors:

Karel Zeman
Fred Ladd

Writers:

William Cayton (USA version)
J.A. Novotný (writer)

Release Date:

1966 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Animation | Family | Sci-Fi | Fantasy

Plot:

Four young boys visit a dinosaur exhibit at the New York city Museum of Natural History. They then row...

Plot Keywords:

Dinosaur | Exhibit | Prehistoric | Cave | Museum

Cast

Vladimir Bejval	...	Jirka / Jo-Jo
Victor Betral	...	Joe / Jo-Jo (US version)
Charles Goldsmith	...	Ben (US version)
Petr Herrman	...	Toník / Tony
Zdenek Hustak	...	Jenda / Ben
James Lucas	...	Doc (US version)
Josef Lukás	...	Petr / Doc

Also Known As:

Cesta do pravěku (Czechoslovakia: Czech title)
Journey to Prehistory
Journey to the Beginning of Time (USA) (dubbed version)

Runtime:

93 min | East Germany:80 min | USA:83 min

Country:

Czechoslovakia

Language:

Czech

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-8 | Norway:A

Company:

Ceskoslovenský Státní Film

Goofs:

Continuity: Jo Jo retrieves the diary and stows it on his chest under his shirt, thereby soaking his shirt. As he's then returning to the other three boys, his shirt is dry.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Kráska v nesnázích (2006)

A movie to excite your imagination

The irony of movie-making is that the supposedly "amazing" modern special effects often seem to rob movies of their potential charm. By trying to dazzle us with all their computer magic, too many contemporary films fail to stir our imaginations. It is like comparing prose with poetry. When special effects were more primitive, they had to be a bit more "poetic" and less literal in their presentations. The result was that these older movies stirred our imaginations better than many current ones.

This little gem of a movie is proof that limitations inspire creativity, and that the inability to graphically show anything you conceive forces the filmmaker to be more resourceful and clever with his choice of material. Nowadays, many people seem to be bored, rather than dazzled, with the flawless special effects that dominate some movies.

"Journey to the Beginning of Time" makes great use of the somewhat modest visual tools they had to work with at the time. Just as a novel like Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" is a pleasure to read, "Journey to the Beginning of Time" is great fun, and something you'll always fondly remember.

I originally watched this movie in short segments on the "Garfield Goose" TV show (mid 1960s). Each week, I could hardly wait to see another of these brief episodes. Since TV back then had poorer screen resolution, and reception was often a bit grainy, I never noticed that the actors' mouths were out of synch with the dialogue. Only after looking up this movie on the IMDb.com website did I discover that this movie was not American. It was produced in Czechoslovakia in 1955.

This movie has so much warmth and charm that it overcomes the technical limitations of the day. I just purchased a copy of this movie, and will surely watch it over and over.