Krakatit (1948)
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Source: JustWatch
The novel, about an explosive force powerful enough to destroy the world, was written in 1922. The film was made in 1948, after World War II showed the fantasy was now just an engineering challenge.
A chemist collapses on a Prague street, feverish and delirious. In his delirium he has apparently told a classmate the formula for krakatite, the terrible explosive he has invented. The classmate has sold it.
We follow the chemist through a series of encounters - a weapons manufacturer, a princess whose face dissolves, a secret society of former world leaders who worship war and hail him as their saviour - as he tries to recover his formula while barely able to distinguish waking reality from fever dream.
KRAKATIT (1948) was shot at Barrandov Studios in Prague, during a short window of creative freedom between Nazi occupation and communist rule.
Krakatit was based on the novel by Karel Čapek - who also coined the word "robot" in his play RUR. Director Otakar Vávra made a loose second adaptation in 1980, titled Dark Sun, in the context of Cold War tensions.
Physical Media
4K UHDDeaf CrocodileUPC 0850066568781
a member added 9/25/2026
About the Film
- Directed By
- Otakar Vávra
- Runtime
- 110 minutes
- Released
- April 9, 1948
- US Theatrical
- April 28, 1951
- Country
- Czechoslovakia
- Starring
- Karel Höger, Florence Marly, Jiří Plachý, Nataša Tanská, František Smolík
More Credits
- Genres
- Science Fiction, Thriller, Mystery
- Language
- Czech
- Origin
- XC
- Studios
- Československá filmová společnost
- Written By
- Jaroslav R. Vávra, Karel Čapek, Otakar Vávra
- Produced By
- Karel Feix
- Cinematography
- Václav Hanuš
- Music
- Jiří Srnka
- Also Starring
- Miroslav Homola, Eduard Linkers, Vlasta Fabianová, Jaroslav Průcha, Bedřich Vrbský
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We performed RUR at a 24 hour Theatre presentation locally. It was interesting.
Yvette Sherman Our theater in Seattle, Open Circle, did a production of RUR in 2007. It’s a really well done play, but needs some cutting down for contemporary audiences. This was the company logo that I designed for Rossum’s Universal Robots.
Thanks. I loved the book, didn’t know there’s a movie.
Alice Netto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6V02svoabw
Thank you for posting!
Yeah, I need to catch up with this at some point. Čapek was great. I’ve also enjoyed his science fiction novel THE ABSOLUTE AT LARGE. Though my favorite book of his is AN ORDINARY LIFE, which starts out as something that feels memoiristic, before turning into something stranger.
I need to see that! Another favorite of mine is Čapek’s WAR WITH THE NEWTS. I prepared a radio script for it which never got produced.
Was krakatite named after Krakatoa? Whether it was or not, it’s certainly more imaginative than “unobtainium.”
Brian McCullough Yes, Capek deliberately evoked the memory of Krakatoa.
Brian McCullough Unobtainium is an actual term used for a theoretical material with many valuable properties. Dubbing such a thing “unobtainium” is precisely the kind of thing engineers and scientists would do if they found it. There are things to criticize about Avatar. This isn’t one of them.
The female lead of KRAKATIT came to America in the sixties and played the female space vampire in QUEEN OF BLOOD. She is very effective there, but she is unearthily beautiful in KRAKATIT.
Wow. I’ve read the Čapek novel, but had no idea there was a movie version. For me, his best science fiction novel was ‘The War With the Newts’, but Krakatit was good also.
Mike Ryan
War with the Newts is a fantastic novel, satiric in nature, and with a depiction of an American which is hilarious and too accurate. I’d recommend it to anyone.
This looks great.
Anywhere But Hollywood That link is a $14 a month pay platform.
Watch it here instead, free w/ English subs
https://youtu.be/N6V02svoabw?is=QFcdD-7egoolWwPc
It’s actually on you tube, on .the Filmova klasika channel https://youtu.be/N6V02svoabw?si=TVX9YnOjpJlb01M_ (sorry, I’ve put the link but they never work on facebook!)
The English translation of the novel is nearly impossible to find. Must see the movie.
One of the last hurrahs of dieselpunk, huh?
Anywhere But Hollywood The trailer in the link is seriously freaky! This film is now on my must-see list!
Looks like in the US it’s available to stream on Tubi.
Jon Padilla It’s on youtube in a great print with subs. I’m watching it now, and it’s AMAZING.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6V02svoabw
Tubi print is garbage. YouTube is the pristine restoration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6V02svoabw
Čapek was such a genius!
Kevin T. Keith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6V02svoabw
Perhaps named after Krakatoa….
Notice that the Princess whose face was dissolved is wearing a dress with the skeletal hand of Death has her in its grasp.
Thanks for the tip. I didn’t know about this story or film, but I love Karel Capek. It’s too bad a film was never made of his book “War with the Newts”….. or WAS there?
Scott Currie Look what I found! https://www.praguereporter.com/home/2026/4/18/war-with-the-newts-czech-adaptation-of-karel-capeks-classic-sci-fi-novel-now-in-post-production/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6V02svoabw
Free on Tubi in the US.
I was in the play RUR.
The book is well worth a read.
This film bombed at the office
HG wells already made a novel about nuclear weapons years before this one.
Fantastic film.