A mad scientist, an Indian fakir and a Japanese conman walk into a lab - and try to resurrect a dead alchemist in order to discover the secret of creating gold..

Imagine the celluloid itself steeped in carbolic acid: every frame of Melchiad Koloman feels dipped in brimstone, then hung to dry in a morgue. Shot on expired agfa stock that bubbles like lava, the film’s chiaroscuro turns human faces into cracked porcelain lit from within by guilty candle-flame. Director-writer Rudo...

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Comparing the cinematic DNA and archive impact of two defining moments in cult history.

Rudolf Liebscher

Károly Lajthay
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" Imagine the celluloid itself steeped in carbolic acid: every frame of Melchiad Koloman feels dipped in brimstone, then hung to dry in a morgue. Shot on expired agfa stock that bubbles like lava, the film’s chiaroscuro turns human faces into cracked porcelain lit from within by guilty candle-flame. Director-writer Rudolf Liebscher—also essaying the gaunt fakir Jadav—doesn’t merely photograph Prague; he exorcises it, peeling soot from baroque facades until the city becomes a fever-chart of Europe..."
Nina Lasková
Rudolf Liebscher
Slovakia


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