Krakatit

In the brief window of opportunity between the WW2 expulsion of the Nazis and the Communist take over, the Czech cinema produced films which appear to be superior to those done there before or for decades to come. KRAKATIT is the most remarkable of them we know.

It's the work of long time survivor director Vavra and features his regular leading man Hoger and globe trotting leading lady Marly (L'ALIBI, SEALED VERDICT, PLANET OF BLOOD) who has a comparatively small role and it treats a story by Capek, the country's then famous author of "R.U.R" the play that gave the word robot to the world. The original, I'm told, did not contain the A bomb analogy the film uses.

Slipping in and out of hallucination Hoger fantasizes about the ultimate explosive. The black and white imagery and the structure are well on the way to being the most imaginative of it's day. The laboratory scene anticipates one famous American film of the sixties in a way unlikely to be a coincidence. The brooding, damp atmosphere the film communicates lingers in the memory of most people who see it.

Vavra remained the industry's key figure but failed to match this work which should be more widely circulated.