“Journey to the Beginning of Time”. 1950s Science Fiction Cinema

The first time I watched Journey to the Beginning of Time was for an article on the most offbeat science fiction films in the history of cinema. This Czechoslovakian production, directed by Karel Zeman and made in 1955, amazed me with the quality of its special effects. I had no idea that the Czechs could create such technically proficient cinema, especially in a time so distant from our awareness that science fiction might have existed. At that time, Americans were still making their laughable productions about giant creature attacks. I can forgive the linearity and didactic nature of the plot because the creators still made a breakthrough in European cinema within the realm of science fiction and new adventure films. If they had also enhanced the script in terms of suspense, we could have had a timeless Jurassic Park from the Vltava region. Instead, we have an interesting piece from a historical perspective, which can be shown to children to give them an idea of the zoological and geological past of our Earth.

This didacticism is not a criticism, as cinema should serve not only an entertaining function but also an educational one. The problem arises when either of these features dominates. Then, we either get a pastiche of science fiction cinema or an educational pomp marked by the times of production. The 1950s in this part of Europe were very focused on the collective and materialistic upbringing of young people. It’s undeniable that Zeman’s Journey to the Beginning of Time could be very appealing to censors in this perspective of understanding education. However, there’s nothing wrong with that, because this aspect of communism – materialism – if considered within reasonable limits (not as a quasi-religious worldview), still forms the basis of applied sciences. The narrative is conducted similarly to drawing a map of an unknown territory, literally drawn by one of the characters. These are very young people, teenagers, passionate about prehistory, stratigraphy, and paleontology. One day, they decide to see with their own eyes what the Earth looked like hundreds of thousands and millions of years ago. To do this, they pack their gear into backpacks, take a boat, and head to a cave through which a river flows. Modern times are left behind as they emerge on the other side. Still on the river, they explore the world, occasionally camping by the shore, and moving further back in Earth’s history as the current carries them.

An interesting idea. The creators experimented with form and content. They didn’t have much experience in adventure cinema, so they decided on a linear presentation of the content, occasionally interweaving more sensational events into the natural history, such as the disappearance of one of the expedition members, a storm, a night watch, or an animal attack. The moments of increased tension are short and somewhat instructional, like survival basics in a nutshell, undoubtedly interesting for young fans of Verne. However, the weakest sequence would be the encounter with a prehistoric leopard, because – surprisingly – it was based on inserted footage of a contemporary big cat rather than a stop-motion animated model, like the mammoth, saber-toothed tiger, trachodon, and brontosaurus. It turned into a pretty good Jurassic Park, and in fact, that’s what Journey to the Beginning of Time can be called. I’m curious if Steven Spielberg knew of Zeman’s production, because I haven’t found any statements from him suggesting that he might have been inspired by it when he made his iconic work in the early 1990s. The scene where the characters approach a dead stegosaurus, which had died the previous day after a fight with a tyrannosaurus, resembles one from Jurassic Park. Hence my thought that Spielberg might have seen the Czech prototype of the park. Nevertheless, even if you consider *Journey* unwatchable, at least appreciate the creators’ courage, who – without a rich background or cinematic experience in fantasy – decided to be pioneers of the genre with good results. It’s worth staying until the end of the heroes’ journey, as the river takes them to the mythical and coveted trilobite. The visualization of the Carboniferous period is impressive, as is the Silurian. And in the Silurian, the goal of the journey awaits. It’s also good that the characters didn’t meet prehistoric humans, as it could have become too pretentious, and thus, the children’s cinema remained intact in its fairy-tale quality, paradoxically not losing its typical science fiction traits. Indeed, Journey to the Beginning of Time is much more of a science fiction film than many contemporary titles, as it uses knowledge that is much better experimentally tested and excavation-confirmed than dreams of futuristic worlds, artificial intelligence, and the conquest of alien planets.

It’s beautiful, however, that the Czechs didn’t worry about any scientific justifications required in SF cinema to make their film scientifically accurate in terms of specific fields (zoology, natural history, geology). It’s also hard to believe that in the 1950s, our southern neighbors started making Jurassic Park. All this seems contrary to the cinematic common sense we’re used to, as we are raised on Western cinema, not domestic, which is also a sad paradox. I wouldn’t be surprised at all and would like it to be true if Steven Spielberg watched Journey to the Beginning of Time and decided to make something better, retaining the neo-adventure atmosphere while abandoning the educational approach. This approach is what determined that Karel Zeman’s film is what it is – strange and offbeat, maybe also forgotten and judged as naive. Watching it feels like watching a film encyclopedia of prehistory, somewhat outdated today, or an adaptation of a textbook on history, biology, or the environment; moreover, shown on a VHS tape in a classroom where few are interested in the topic. As you can see, back then, the Czechs had their own understanding of the vibes of Verne’s Mysterious Island or Twain’s Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Nonetheless, Journey to the Beginning of Time is a quirky gem that cinema enthusiasts and science fiction fans should watch at least once.