TOP STEAMPUNK MOTION PICTURES

[neon_suntan]

I always liked the ludicrously complicated and decidedly Gothic look of the String Factory in Mousehunt...

IN Django the hero is able to save the day and even kill an army because he's brought one piece of new technology with him - a Gatling gun, though in true weird west style he arrives dragging it in a coffin 

[Max Von Hellbent]

Last night, I watched a fabulous Australian animated short, called The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello.  The film uses "silhouette" animation to create a world of wrought-iron airships.

For those of you who've yet to see this you can watch what I belive to be the entire film <a href=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9037500575588843788&q=The+Mysterious+Geographical+Explorations+of+Jasper+Morello&ei=7eEPSIKnCZqgrAKSnvm7BA> here</a>.

seems there's 4

    * The First Voyage - Jasper Morello and the Lost Airship
    * The Second Voyage - Jasper Morello and the Return of Claude Belgon
    * The Third Voyage - Jasper Morello and the Ghosts of Alto Mea
    * The Fourth Voyage - Jasper Morello and the Ebenezer of Gothia

we have a link to the Lost Airship....

BRILLIANT! I would say required viewing for anyone in Steam Punk! Please tell me where I can find the others!? (the website didn't detail and Amazon doesn't seem to help.)

I had never seen The Assassination Bureau but it looks like fun even given the now archaic fx. I think it really give some (not all) but some of those movies added charm.

Thank you all for your contributions, I know I can always find some other way to geek out when I visit here!

[Hester]

A children's Steampunk triple bill:

The Railway Children, 1970
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7qlS7V6uHrI

Fairytale: A True Story, 1997
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VSHMo4H1xkw

A Little Princess, 1995
http://youtube.com/watch?v=X4emTTgIm5U

[James Harrison]

Just seen the 2001 horror film From Hell.  Not steampuk per se, but I must say it captures the image of a dark, dingy 1880s London slum beautifully. 

[Orlando]

Just seen the 2001 horror film From Hell.  Not steampuk per se, but I must say it captures the image of a dark, dingy 1880s London slum beautifully. 

Excellant film - girlfriend has the DVD.
It's been mentioned frequently in the forum.
Based on this graphic novel of course.

Orlando.

[cuchlann]

I'm pretty sure I haven't seen anyone mention Steamboy yet -- it's a decent anime, though it does treat steam as though it's some sort of mystical force.  It features very good period scene-setting and a  young protagonist who builds, in his backyard, a strange, steam-powered motorcycle that moves by rotating a giant wheel around the person. 

The Colin Firth / Rupert Everett adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest features a few original scenes that alter the nature of some characters -- tattooing and chorus dancing figuring among the gentry, all of a sudden.  Algie also arrives, inexplicably, by hot-air balloon, complete with driving gloves and goggles. 

Not a movie, but did anyone else watch The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne years ago?  It was probably my first exposure to steampunk. 

And it's not really setting-appropriate, but vaguely on-topic:  have any of you heard of this Brendan Fraser adaptation of Journey to the Centre of the Earth?  I hadn't heard anything about it until I saw the poster when I went to the latest Indy; I caught a commercial a few days later, and apparently it's modern day, but Verne's novel isn't science-fiction after all.  That is, Verne or someone he knew actually went into the center of the earth, and he based the book on real events.  It looks interesting, though not amazing.  It features Fraser doing what he typically does, which entertains me -- including a scene where they fall so long everyone calms down, and he freaks out about how calm they get.  Let me see if I can dig up the trailer...

http://www.apple.com/trailers/newline/journeytothecenteroftheearth/trailer4/  There we go.

[Hester]

Not a movie, but did anyone else watch The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne years ago?  It was probably my first exposure to steampunk. 

Oh, yes.  Terrific art direction [the airship was to die for!]  but the scripts were terrible.

I was a big fan of Michael Praed in Robin of Sherwood, but his Phileas Fogg was atrocious.  Spoke most of his dialogue in an inexplicable menacing whisper.

The series was originally shown on CBC, which partially funded the production, but they soon yanked the show off prime time and started showing it at odd, unpredictable times, and I never did get to see that whole series.

SPACE in Canada is currently showing it at 9:00 am on Tuesdays to fulfill CanCon requirements.  I keep meaning to record it, but usually forget.

I wish it would come out on DVD, because it would be brilliant for vidding (one of my hobbies).  However, I've read rumours that there are some legal wrangles preventing a DVD release.

Anyhow, here's a vid someone else made from clips:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NUkaQxLtzGM

Oh, and someone else has uploaded the first episode in several segments:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HFU4YUvOhhs

[cuchlann]

Oh, yes.  Terrific art direction [the airship was to die for!]  but the scripts were terrible.

I was a big fan of Michael Praed in Robin of Sherwood, but his Phileas Fogg was atrocious.  Spoke most of his dialogue in an inexplicable menacing whisper.

The series was originally shown on CBC, which partially funded the production, but they soon yanked the show off prime time and started showing it at odd, unpredictable times, and I never did get to see that whole series.

SPACE in Canada is currently showing it at 9:00 am on Tuesdays to fulfill CanCon requirements.  I keep meaning to record it, but usually forget.

I wish it would come out on DVD, because it would be brilliant for vidding (one of my hobbies).  However, I've read rumours that there are some legal wrangles preventing a DVD release.

Anyhow, here's a vid someone else made from clips:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NUkaQxLtzGM

Oh, and someone else has uploaded the first episode in several segments:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HFU4YUvOhhs

It was so long ago, and I wasn't all that discerning, so it could very well have been atrocious.  And I knew next to nothing about Jules Verne, so that helped.  I recall really enjoying the episode where they all end up in the American west.  Jules buys spectacles for no reason I can recall, and Fogg spends the whole episode trying to learn to quick-draw, only to learn that it's very hard to aim when doing so -- and proceeds to gun down several men who are all fanning their guns at him.  I had wondered why it wasn't on dvd, and knew nothing about any strange legal problems they might have.  I watched it on the Sci-fi Channel.  Hm.

I also don't know how verboten this topic is, but the show is around on torrents, I just discovered.

[OldProfessorBear]

Not a movie, but did anyone else watch The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne years ago?  It was probably my first exposure to steampunk. 

Oh, yes.  Terrific art direction [the airship was to die for!]  but the scripts were terrible.

I was a big fan of Michael Praed in Robin of Sherwood, but his Phileas Fogg was atrocious.  Spoke most of his dialogue in an inexplicable menacing whisper.

The series was originally shown on CBC, which partially funded the production, but they soon yanked the show off prime time and started showing it at odd, unpredictable times, and I never did get to see that whole series.

SPACE in Canada is currently showing it at 9:00 am on Tuesdays to fulfill CanCon requirements.  I keep meaning to record it, but usually forget.

I wish it would come out on DVD, because it would be brilliant for vidding (one of my hobbies).  However, I've read rumours that there are some legal wrangles preventing a DVD release.

Anyhow, here's a vid someone else made from clips:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NUkaQxLtzGM

Oh, and someone else has uploaded the first episode in several segments:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HFU4YUvOhhs

Got to watch the first two eps over the past two days.

They were dreadful.

First off, while the concept was kind of interesting, it made no sense as presented.

The scripts, as you say, are terrible - at the very least. Aside from their general awfulness, they are (especially the first) nearly impossible to follow.

The acting sucks too. There were one or two moments when I thought it must be an amateur production. Y'know what I mean? It's hard to pinpoint, but there's a clear difference between lousy professional acting and lousy amateur acting.

The sets and props were pretty good, though the lighting was so dim (for atmosphere?) that I had a hard time seeing them most of the time.

I had (admittedly feeble) hopes that it might improve, but you have crushed them.

Glutton for self-abuse that I am, I expect I will watch 3 and 4 nonetheless.

[Hester]

[Re: SAoJV] Got to watch the first two eps over the past two days.

They were dreadful.

...

I had (admittedly feeble) hopes that it might improve, but you have crushed them.

Glutton for self-abuse that I am, I expect I will watch 3 and 4 nonetheless.

The first episode in particular was a muddled mess, with pointless flashbacks, etc.  I've heard that it was re-edited from a longer pilot.  So things do get a bit better after that (but not much).

Awful as the scripts and acting were, I'd still like this series on DVD.

A friend who understands these things says he'll look into downloading and burning the bit-torrent versions for me.  [Perhaps I should just ask Mr. H. to install the required software so I can do it myself.]

Here's a page with SAJV bit-torrents, for those who know how to use them:

http://isohunt.com/torrents/The+Secret+Adventures+of+Jules+Verne


One note of trivia -- this was the first TV show shot entirely in HD (before most of us had HD TVs).  Unfortunately, the SPACE channel is not in HD.  And I don't think the bit-torrents will likely be in HD either.

[Ella Kremper]

I'm going to give a mention for Return to Oz. It's got a mechanical man (Tick Tock):



Maniacal creatures with wheels for hands and feet, travelling around by rolling around on their wheels (Wheelers):



Bits of anachronisms all over the place, though that's likely to be due to being set in Oz.

[Rowan of Rin]

Maniacal creatures with wheels for hands and feet, travelling around by rolling around on their wheels (Wheelers):

The Wheelers scared the living bajeebus out of me, I couldn't sleep properly for months after watching that film. I am scared to go near it again

[brutebrother]

really any of Terry Gilliam's films make the grade.

[Cheery Rayne]

I loved "Return to Oz" and Tick Tock. I read somewhere that the performers who did the wheelers were actually from the beginnings of Cirque du Soleil. The witch who could change heads and Jack Pumpkinhead were awesome. Oooh, I loved that movie when I was a kid.

[Hester]

I loved "Return to Oz" and Tick Tock. I read somewhere that the performers who did the wheelers were actually from the beginnings of Cirque du Soleil. The witch who could change heads and Jack Pumpkinhead were awesome. Oooh, I loved that movie when I was a kid.

I never saw it.  [I was a young adult at the time and eschewed anything Disney.]  But it looks good, and I've added it to my list of DVDs to get.

[Cheery Rayne]

It wasn't my favorite of all the movies that came out at the time, I was raised mainly on "Labyrinth", "Legend", and "The Dark Crystal" but it was till kind of cool somehow. Now I'm watching early 1919 silent movie shorts. They're superfun.

[OldProfessorBear]

[Re: SAoJV] Got to watch the first two eps over the past two days.

They were dreadful.

...

I had (admittedly feeble) hopes that it might improve, but you have crushed them.

Glutton for self-abuse that I am, I expect I will watch 3 and 4 nonetheless.

The first episode in particular was a muddled mess, with pointless flashbacks, etc.  I've heard that it was re-edited from a longer pilot.  So things do get a bit better after that (but not much).

Awful as the scripts and acting were, I'd still like this series on DVD.

A friend who understands these things says he'll look into downloading and burning the bit-torrent versions for me.  [Perhaps I should just ask Mr. H. to install the required software so I can do it myself.]

Here's a page with SAJV bit-torrents, for those who know how to use them:

http://isohunt.com/torrents/The+Secret+Adventures+of+Jules+Verne


One note of trivia -- this was the first TV show shot entirely in HD (before most of us had HD TVs).  Unfortunately, the SPACE channel is not in HD.  And I don't think the bit-torrents will likely be in HD either.

*cough* I can assure you that the torrents are not in HD *cough*

[SteamBlast Mary]

I think The Mummy warrants an honorary mention at the very least. Its success helped kick-started a revival of interest in good ol'  FUN adventure movies, paving the way for some of the swashbucklers that are starting to filter back. (you may disagree, but I don't care. :-p ). Plus it inspired some ideas for my tropical/ summer wardrobe. It had a paddlesteamer and a biplane in too, what more do you want??

Also:

~ Van Helsing: The London Assignment (animated).
~Full Metal Alchemist (What, not mentioned sooner? His brother's a walking suit of plate armour, for heaven's sake!)
~ Trinity Blood (the anime). A flying Vatican, lots of mecha-influence, megaweapons, Gothic Lolita style dresses... more please!
There's a fair bit of anime in this style, Trigun springs to mind but that's more post- apocalyptic in feel (though the 'pretty' lasses still wear EGL style?). Vampire Hunter D... had to get that in somewhere...

Yes, I am a shameless Otaku.


These have been mentioned before, but I also enjoyed (in a more or less light-hearted way);

~ Hellboy (in particular the clockwork Nazi)
~ LOEG- look, Nautilus and the Automobile, OK?
~ Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (...they enchant all the ladies/ and steal all the scenes, with their up-tiddly-up-up and their down-tiddly-pom-down).


I saw The Time Machine at perhaps too tender an age (I was a sensitive child)... I remember I was eating an orange hobnob while watching the scene of one of the evil ones decompose, and haven't had that particular oaty biscuit since because it reminds me of decaying eyeballs rolling out of misformed creatures.

Hated everything about Series of Unfortunate Events except the the design/visual style. Good though they were, they couldn't save it.

[Bracer]

Well, I now have a lot of new films to add to my list of things to watch this summer holiday. Excellent.
I would suggest a few titles with the fear that they may have been mentioned already:
Porco Rosso - A Studio Ghibli film
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
And of course Steamboy, which, if it hasn't been mentioned in eight pages, I'll simply be forced to murder the lot of you.

[Atterton]

People seem to forget the title is Top Steampunk Motion Pictures, not All Steampunk Motion Pictures.

[Bracer]

In my case it wasn't so much "forget" as "not notice".
And Steamboy is a top SteamPunk motion picture.

[Schizmo]

What about At Earths Core? I haven't seen it but its on Hulu right now and from the description I've decided that it sounds interesting enough to watch.

"In this fantasy-adventure based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel, a scientist and his protege burrow their way from Victorian England to the center of the Earth and encounter a lost world of prehistoric monsters and subhuman creatures."

I'm 2 to 3 minutes in and apart from the initial hot lava closeups, the movie is pretty damn steamy. The description sounds vaguely familiar...

http://www.hulu.com/watch/14449/at-the-earths-core

[Schizmo]

What about At Earths Core? I haven't seen it but its on Hulu right now and from the description I've decided that it sounds interesting enough to watch.

"In this fantasy-adventure based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel, a scientist and his protege burrow their way from Victorian England to the center of the Earth and encounter a lost world of prehistoric monsters and subhuman creatures."

I'm 2 to 3 minutes in and apart from the initial hot lava closeups, the movie is pretty damn steamy. The description sounds vaguely familiar...

http://www.hulu.com/watch/14449/at-the-earths-core

Nevermind. I got through about half an hour of this movie and I had to stop. Its basically a ripoff of Journey to the Center of the Earth and the Time Machine, rolled into one ugly lovechild. Its awful.

[Roderick Hellyer]

Hello everyone,


I came back to the forum after a lengthy absence(funny how a few months can be like years in net time).  I have been making my way through all the posts of interest and catching up with the current state of the movement when I came across this this thread.  I must say that I would contribute but nearly all of the films I would have suggested have been (Kudos to Mr.Elliot for the assassination Bureau - its always been my holdout for steamy trivia.)

However I can gaze into the future and discern the following prediction.
I will go out on a limb and make a prediction that the Film adaptation of Larklight will be the top live action Steampunk film for this list in about 2 years especially since Shekhar Kapur is directing (Elizabeth the golden age).

respectfully

Roderick Hellyer

[Hester]

Enchanted April



Flapperpunk magic realism.

What's so "steamy" about it?  Well, how about that exploding boiler in the bathroom?