Viaje al planeta prehistórico

It's no secret that until probes were sent to it in comparatively recent times, Venus was thought by the scientific community to be an earthlike planet. That isn't important, of course- the film version of H.G. Wells's THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON postulated the existence of a highly-organized society of intelligent, air-breathing creatures living inside the Moon, and that film was made in the mid-1960s. Hence, when viewed as pure fantasy, I'm willing to grant this movie artistic (and scientific) license.

Yes this one's primitive, but the Soviets didn't have much to work with. I enjoyed this film thanks to the sheer imagination that went into it.

And I've heard the comment before that the Command Ship pilot refers to "propellors." She doesn't. Her reference is to "propellants," i.e., rocket fuel.

This is a really odd one! B-grade horror/exploitation movie legend Roger Corman ('A Bucket Of Blood', 'The Masque Of The Red Death', 'The Wild Angels') and writer/director Curtis Harrington (of highly thought of cult movies 'Night Tide' and 'Games') take an obscure low budget Soviet science fiction movie, re-edit it, badly dub it, and add extra footage of faded star Basil "Sherlock Holmes" Rathbone and 'This Island Earth's Faith Domergue, and come up with... well, I don't know what you call it! Let's face it, this movie's a mess, but it's a strangely entertaining cheesy mess. The story concerns a mission to Venus that goes wrong. But I must say, even with 'Voyage To The Prehistoric Planet's the hokey dinosaurs, silly lizard-men, laughably inept robot ("Robot John"), bargain basement special effects, awful dialogue, and moments of NOTHING HAPPENING, I still enjoyed it much more than Brian De Palma's dull Hollywood "blockbuster" 'Mission To Mars'!

The first of two modified versions of a well-done Russian movie, filmed in 1962 under the title "Planeta Burg" ("Planet of Storms") by the Leningrad Studio of Popular Science Films. No kidding.

The original story involves a manned landing on Venus, during which a group of cosmonauts and their seven-foot robot get separated from their comrades while exploring. The designs of both the robot and the astronauts' spacesuits are very impressive. Ditto for the land cruiser the cosmonauts use; it's a floating car that resembles those wonderful "cars of the future" which Detroit produced during the 1950s. In one scene the robot carries the cosmonauts on its shoulders across a lava flow.

Venusian life forms include a few non-animated dinosaurs, but they aren't very threatening other than an attack on the floating car by an ungainly flying reptile. The plot is pretty sedate and actionless, but the dialogue is intelligent. After finding evidence of a low-level civilization, the astronauts speculate on the possibility that Martians tried to colonize Venus but somehow slipped back into more primitive state! Cool idea . . .

In 1965 Roger Corman bought the rights to the film, added some scenes with Faith Domergue ("This Island Earth") and Basil Rathbone, and then released it in America as "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet".

In 1968 he took out the former additions, added more footage, and released it again as "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women". In this third version, Mamie Van Doren and several other well-endowed beauties lay around on rocks by the ocean and make thoughtful faces while they have a telepathic debate concerning the "alien invaders" from Earth. The girls worship a dead pterodactyl until the end of the film, then they pull the wrecked robot from the ocean and start worshipping it instead (proof positive that a blond is a blond, regardless of what planet she's from).

The cosmonauts and the girls never come face to face -- which is no surprise, of course, since their scenes were filmed six years apart on two separate continents. Mamie's scenes were directed by Peter Bogdanovich under the pseudonym Derek Thomas!

This is a Roger Corman re-working of the Russian film PLANETA BURG (PLANET OF STORMS) which I saw at a science fiction convention around 1970 - in Russian, with no subtitles! This version has neatly edited in scenes featuring American stars to replace two of the Russians and dubbed the voices of the remaining Russian actors - this is a mixed blessing, since the dialogue is often contorted so as to match their lip movements, making for some banal conversations on the way to Venus. Once you get used to that, there are some interesting bits, including a great robot, a nifty flying car and an ending that retains some of the poetry of the original space epic. It's of interest mostly as a curiosity - and one day I'd like to see a subtitled version of the Russian original!

i watched this as a kid when it was shown almost every sat and Sunday night on wor TV channel 9 and thought it was kind of cool.there's a big clunky robot that talks in electronic monotones,rubbery dinosaurs,a big flying reptile and hints of an alien race hiding in the shadows,roger corman bought this film from the Russians when it was called planeta berg(planet of storms)inserted American scenes with basil rathbone and faith domerge and retitled it,and used the leftover footage for two other movies;planet of blood and voyage to the planet of prehistoric women(that features a busty Mamie van doren in a seashell bra)anyway its not bad,the dubbing is really poor,some of the special effects are pretty good for its time,i did like the hovercraft ship thy used.this DVD is very easy to find in sets or even for a dollar.avoid the sinister cinema print its too fuzzy.its not the best sci fi but its not the worst.its science fiction from the 1960's compliments of Russia and roger corman.6 out of 10.