Krakatit(e) (1948)
IMDb meta-data is 1 hour and 34 minutes, rated 7.3 by 42 cinematizens.
DNA: Czechoslovak.
Genre: Sy Fy.
Tagline: Boom!
Verdict: Hard to find but well worth the effort.
A conscience stricken scientist lies in a coma as he recalls in nightmares his discovery of a powder with the explosive force of the volcano Krakatoa. The story was published by Karel Ćapek in 1938.
The cinematography is inventive and at one point our anti-hero watches on screen his own vain efforts to control his invention. There is a mystery woman who appears and disappears like a dream. Then there is an American agent (named Oppenheimer [just kidding]) who wants the formula. In between is a jealous and unscrupulous colleague whom we know is not to be trusted since he does not return library books when they are due. What a rat!
Relentlessly downbeat. Our scientist is doomed after an explosion of the Big K poisoned him and lies dying while the jumble of his thoughts retraces the steps (some real, others illusory) that brought him to his deathbed.
There are a number of remarkable scenes as his delirium is played out:
- the wax works aristocrats in museum poses
- the menacing D’Hémon with the satanic eyebrows
- his mini-Krakatoa of sex
- the melting face of the femme fatale
- the police in German uniforms like ghosts
- the assembly of beer hall hooligans in furs and diamonds.
- the grasping of krakatit from a dead body
- most of all is the anxiety and torment of the scientist who is eating himself up with guilt