Invention for Destruction (1958) review

Professor Roch (Arnost Navrátil) and his assistant Simon Hart (Lubor Tokoš) are captured by Count Artigas (Miloslav Holub) because Roch is working on a dangerous new weapon and he wants to use it for his own evil purposes ... plus, he already operates a pointy submarine that can sink ships so his divers can steal their loot.  The set design and props are visually appealing with Zeman trying to emulate the "woodcut illustrations" of the original Jules Verne books (it looks like human beings interacting with a hand-drawn world) although Simon isn't what you'd consider the most "adventurous" lead character (he mostly takes notes and doesn't do a whole lot) and viewers will only remember the movie's appearance after watching it and not much of anything else.  Its target audience is children who are interested in deep-sea creatures (there's a neat-looking octopus that pops up) ... and it had an unmistakable influence on Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.