Czech director Otakar Vávra's astonishing mix of Film Noir, Thriller and Atomic Bomb Sci-Fi
"Long wandering," a voice whispers in the mind of a man staggering along a misty riverbank, the night as fog-shrouded as his fractured thoughts. Czech director Otakar Vávra's astonishing KRAKATIT is a fever-dreamlike film that blends 1940s film noir, paranoid thriller, and speculative atomic-age sci-fi. It follows chemist Prokop, who experiences fragmented visions surrounding his creation of a powerful experimental weapon—and the mystery of what’s become of its formula.
The film carries echoes of Rudolph Maté’s D.O.A. (a man racing against time), Orson Welles works like The Stranger and The Lady from Shanghai (deep-focus black-and-white photography and surreal paranoia), and Hitchcock’s Spellbound (distorted dream sequences). Karel Höger delivers a haunting lead performance, grasping at fading memories like a man untethered from reality.
Based on the 1924 novel by renowned sci-fi author Karel Čapek—who introduced the word “robot” in his play R.U.R.—the film’s layered structure of memories within memories unfolds like Russian nesting dolls. Cinematographer Václav Hanuš captures it all in striking black-and-white imagery reminiscent of the most visually daring films of its era.
Beautifully restored in 4K by the Národní filmový archiv (NFA) in Prague in collaboration with the National Film Institute (NFI) in Hungary, KRAKATIT makes its debut on 4K UHD + Blu-ray from Deaf Crocodile, co-presented with the Comeback Company. Presented in Czech with English subtitles.
Media
Bonus Materials
- 1st ever World 4K UHD + Blu-ray release
- New restoration from original 35mm nitrate negative in 4K
- New essay by Czech film scholar Jonathan Owen
- New essay by film critic Walter Chaw
- New visual essay by film scholar Clayton Dillard
- Video interview on the film’s restoration w/ Tereza Frodlová, Restoration and Curatorship, Národní filmový archiv, Prague
- New artwork by Beth Morris
- Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie with FIdelity in Motion
