TOP STEAMPUNK MOTION PICTURES

[Hester]

Wow Hester, pillaging and plundering your way in with all the posts... 

A pyrate, I be! 

[Sir Vrilhelm Dreadnaught]

What a Grand Emporium of delights! I struggled with 'The Illusionist' and must confess 'The Prestige' to surpass it, if only for Bowie's Telsa. As for 'Van Helsing', I loathed the hammy portral of Dracula. Oh yes! 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' has strong Steampunk elements... but no, tis too rooted in another genre. 'Wild, Wild west' is a Steampunk movie. But a bad movie all the same. As for 'Delicatessen', will the Bishop of Rome give Mass this Sunday? Of course its Steampunk! As for 'The Adventures of Baron Munchausen' do you mean the Python or Gobbels version? 'Brazil' Oh yes! 'Young Frankenstein' is too much of a parody, but lovable. 'The Day the Earth Stood Still', Glorious. But Steampunk. No. But I'll debate. 'Brotherhood of the Wolf' is one of the finest filims I've ever seen. It has the soul of Dumas & Verne. So it, at its heart dreams of Steampunk. But I think you've all missed 'Equilibrium'.- Airships, goofy gun kung fu & swords. Not a Matrix wannabe whatever the critics said.

[Gnome]

The Prestige - David Bowie as Nikola Tesla in a film about two feuding magicians. What's not to love?

Though I don't really see the steampunk in Equilibrium... It's more of a neo-Art Deco revival aesthetic with a touch of Soviet utilitarianism, even with the airships.

Also, Sweeney Todd. Very light on the "Steam", and it may be more Goth than Punk, but it's close enough for government work, I think.

[Sir Vrilhelm Dreadnaught]

'TIME MACHINE 02', I went to see it on a weekday afternoon, having read the reviews that slammed it & hoping to have an empty auditorium with the resignation I was going to watch an effort. I walked in & it was packed to the rafters! A real Saturday Matinee atmosphere [a la Flash Gordon]. The Kids 'Ohhhhed!' & 'Ahhhhed!' the whole way through: a real audience participation. As we left I heard kids say "That was better than Star wars" [episode 1 was showing at the time]. I must say, I agreed! But I did think the Traveller's treatment of the Uber Morlock [Irons] was very bad mannered.

[Nikola Tesla]

...Also, Sweeney Todd. Very light on the "Steam", and it may be more Goth than Punk, but it's close enough for government work, I think.

I was going to mention that, with much the same thoughts.

I thought briefly of The Golden Compass.  A big disappointment on the quality front, I fear, but it has some steampunky eye candy, especially the dirigibles and the Compass itself.  I wouldn't call it exactly SP but I could see some visual inspiration in it.  Maybe worth a rent if you have kids.

I agree wholeheartedly, though, with the posters who mentioned City of Lost Children.  One of my most prized, that.

[Jack Elliot]

I thought briefly of The Golden Compass.  A big disappointment on the quality front, I fear, but it has some steampunky eye candy, especially the dirigibles and the Compass itself.  I wouldn't call it exactly SP but I could see some visual inspiration in it.  Maybe worth a rent if you have kids.

I was going to mention The Golden Compass as well, though really only for the Eye Candy.

[Cheery Rayne]

"Labyrinth" is more fantasy than stempumk but I love Bowie's wardrobe and the cleaners contraption was just plain cool. "A Series of Unfortunate Events is also sadly lacking in steampuck gizmos but Violet definately embodies the steampunk spirit with, "There's always something".

[Cheery Rayne]

By the way, can I just say how pissed off I was at the ending of "Brotherhood of the Wolf"? I adored the movie right up until his best friend gets mortally wounded and he forgets to use the magic bracelet on him. Then when his girlfriend has the same thing happen to her, he conveniently remembers. Bloody stupid plot devices. I would have much rather she kicked the bucket and the two friends go off into the distance fighting evil and, would have been nice, a sequel.

[Altaïr]

Edit, I have put the pictures under spoilers, 'cuz they make the post quite long, which annoys me

I thought of movies but some are already mentioned but mostly in list form so here they are anyways:

The Illusionist(already mentioned, but, look, a picture)

Spoiler: ShowHide

A Mechanical Orange Tree.  Could you possibly want more? Why, yes, it is better than The Prestige, Edward Norton+Mechanical orange tree trumps even David Bowie as Nicola Tesla (will people disagree? Probably).


Howl's Moving Castle

Again, already mentioned, but, again, a picture and a short elaboration:

Spoiler: ShowHide

Steam powered castle, steam powered cars, steam powered boats, and big ornithopter bomber-things (I am assuming they are steam powered, based on current trends...)

I'm pretty sure this hasn't been mentioned:

Castle in the Sky

Spoiler: ShowHide

Shown in the picture are the ornithopters (they contain pirates wearing goggles).

There are also airships, trains, pirates in trains (steam trains, mind you), pirates getting hit in the face with a shovel in a train, pirates shoving a train off the tracks from great heights, pirates fleeing from a bigger train, pirates in an airship, pirates in an airship fleeing from a bigger airship, and lots of machinery. (Did I mention...pirates?)

[hortoncrow]

It may have been said, but if not, Atlantis.

Also, it's a little post steam, but the cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

[Cheery Rayne]

That's a great movie to own

[Khem Caigan]

"The Great Race" (1965) and "Those Magnificent
Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from
London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes" (1965).

[Capt. Michael Bedlam]

I was going to mention The Golden Compass as well, though really only for the Eye Candy.

As far as I could tell, it was all eye candy.  I loved the books, but I'll be honest.  I went for Sam Elliot.  The CGI was just icing on the cake.

Also, welcome to the forum.

[Fraulein Flieger]

Lately I've been fascinated by Fritz Lang's SPIES. Really terrific gadgets, scenery and cool camera work
I'll try to find some images from the film if I can. The arch villain's desk has an interesting vacuum system to send and receive mail right onto his desktop. Also some great props used as set dressing, including an oddly cool 3 way desk lamp I'm dying to make.

[Fraulein Flieger]

Only a couple of pictures...
A great shot of one of the spies on a motorcycle:

Spoiler: ShowHide

the villain's HQ

Spoiler: ShowHide

This scene is great in motion, with people going up and down, across, front to back all at once.

Can't find the desklamp or "vacuum desk". Just watch it. You'll enjoy it, at least for the props, though I like the whole film.

[SalieriAAX]

"Labyrinth" is more fantasy than stempumk but I love Bowie's wardrobe

Those costumes were unfit to be seen by minors.

[Hester]

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.


See the trailer here: http://www.jaspermorello.com/gazette/?page_id=25&currentSelection=7

That website has the DVD for sale in the Aussie format. (And includes a "making of" featurette.) 

However, the short film itself is also available on North American format DVD as part of a collection of Academy Award nominated shorts from 2005:

http://www.amazon.com/Collection-Academy-Award-Nominated-Short/dp/B000FSMEDS/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1212834636&sr=8-1

[Hester]

Last night, I also watched the 1996 TV movie version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, starring Richard Crenna and Ben Cross.  The production values weren't wonderful.  There was some nice brass scattered around, but the interior sets of the Nautilus were rather cheesy.  Colours were too bright and crisp, and [shudder] pastel!  (I preferred the mini-series with Michael Caine and Patrick Dempsey.)

But Paul Gross was very MANLY as Ned Land:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9hh_dyqm-o

[Toji Chiba]

How about "The Prestige"?

I mean the little Gadgets and Nikola Tesla and the look and David Bowie and Christian Bale and Huge Jackman and.......

sorry, I'm becoming unhinged.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=MOdtR_s9Yjw

[Hester]

How about "The Prestige"?

I mean the little Gadgets and Nikola Tesla and the look and David Bowie and Christian Bale and Huge Jackman and.......

sorry, I'm becoming unhinged.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=MOdtR_s9Yjw

Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, AND David Bowie as Nikola Tesla!  Oh my, I'm coming unhinged too!

And I feel a strong Amazon craving coming on... Oooo.... cardboard packages filled with visual joy -- dropped right on my doorstep!

[Hester]

And after conversing with a certain member here who happens to be a Virginia Woolf fan, I think I want to nominate Sally Potter's 1992 film Orlando as well.  While not specifically "Steam", the story's chaotic transcendence of time and gender would definitely qualify it as AnachroPunk.  The art direction is simply luscious!  And you have to love that motorcycle with sidecar and the goggles at the end.

Trailer:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=iFu5TYQvQRE

[Em]

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.


See the trailer here: http://www.jaspermorello.com/gazette/?page_id=25&currentSelection=7

That website has the DVD for sale in the Aussie format. (And includes a "making of" featurette.) 

However, the short film itself is also available on North American format DVD as part of a collection of Academy Award nominated shorts from 2005:

http://www.amazon.com/Collection-Academy-Award-Nominated-Short/dp/B000FSMEDS/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1212834636&sr=8-1

The 'making of' featurette and other goodies are well worth it.
At least as an art student it was wonderful to me.

[David Godfrey Esq.]

How about "A trip to the Moon"? Giant cannon fires a capsule to the moon? Man in the Moon gets shot in the eye? Its even authentic for the period, made in 1902.

For something more modern, I would still include "LXG", which, despite its flaws does have the right idea, and is a good place to start with an exploration of the genre. The 1960s adaptations of the various Verne and HG Wells stories- "20,000 Leagues under the sea", "Mysterious Island", "Journey to the Centre of the Earth", "The Time Machine", "First Men in the Moon" (despite Tinkergirl's opinions), etc.

I think I'd include some of Guillermo del Toro's films, specifically Hellboy (and Hellboy 2), and Cronos.

[Prof_Auerbach]

Has anyone mentioned "A Gentlemans' Duel"? Not a full length film, but definitely one of the best steampunk shorts in existence!

Not to rehash many existing threads on the short, but

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y4u8sWO1Kk

[Hester]

Billy Wilder's 1970 film The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gVFOAyz9jaY