Un viaje a Venus

An artifact from the planet Venus is found buried on Earth, and scientists learn that the object is the log of an alien spacecraft which crashed. After attempts to contact the Venusian civilization are unsuccessful, a multi-national (and multi-racial) flight to Earth's sister planet is launched.

When the expedition arrives on Venus they find a dead world whose civilization has been destroyed by some kind catastrophe. The story contains good ideas, but the plot seems to race along with no regard for dramatic timing or narrative clarity, undoubtedly because of the thirty minutes of footage which were removed from the American version. The obvious dubbing is a major distraction, and the sound effects are garish and unappealing. For some reason, there are very few shots of the rocket traveling through space during the voyage. Generally speaking, the special effects run hot and cold.

The spaceship itself, however, is a beauty (both the interior and exterior), rivaling the best rockets for the 1950s. The little robot is memorable and well designed (it looks like a miniature tank).

The exterior shots of the strange Venusian surface are imaginative, with superimposed wisps of vapor constantly drifting past. Listen for several segments of music borrowed from "Destination Moon" and "This Island Earth".

Recently shown at the Viennale Filmfestival, this movie (one of only five East German sci-fi films) was spoken of rather than of a trashy museal antique stuffed with communist ideology. I had thought it would be about the quality of Plan 9 from Outer Space, so I was surprised to discover that First Spaceship on Venus is not at all trashy! A lot of money seems to have been invested in the design of the mysterious landscape on venus and the spacecraft. The technical effects look highly professional!

As regards ideology, one can't make out more than a slightly pathetic call for peace in the world (which is perfectly agreeable, really) and a casual remark on how well Soviet astronomy is developed. The crew of the spaceship, though, includes an American and a Japanese as well, so it is openly international.

The moment the spacecraft starts, however, the science-fiction story stands in the foreground. It was written by Stanislaw Lem and is therefore quite interesting, shocking and full of suspense - another aspect I wouldn't have expected to get in a film like that. Of course, the acting is stiff, dialogues are reduced to a necessary minimum and the romantic element in the plot is too weak to be convincing. Probably, the screenwriters have removed most of the depth of Lem's original novel. Nevertheless, the whole film manages to evoke Kubrickesque feelings at times (note that it was made before 2001: A Space Odyssey!) and serves as an interesting historical document but also as good sci-fi fun on a Sunday afternoon.

Since this movie was covered fairly early on by the MST3000 crew (along with "Rocketship XM" and "King Dinosaur"), my initial perception of this movie was something on the lines of 'Ehhhh, pretty cheesy', although it was clearly one of the better films they covered. Undoubtedly I saw the chopped up 93 minute version, instead of the longer, more coherent original version mentioned by other reviewers.

However, I saw a standalone DVD edition on sale at a clearance store and picked it up for a couple of bucks on some obscure impulse, and one fine evening I gave it a spin.

You know...in spite of the dated message and foreign cultural references and the problematic dubbing and "Engrish" translations, "1st Spaceship To Venus" does have a certain quality about it that I've come to respect. There's a certain gravity and solemnity to the proceedings. There's a certain wildness and inventiveness to the art direction and the sound design. And while none of the actors here are going to win any awards (or even by remembered by American audiences), if you pay attention you will see humane, approachable performances (undercut by poor dubbing) that make the film much more watchable than glib junk like "Rocketship XM" or space flight oriented stuff out of the Roger Corman sausage factory.

When I first saw "1st Spaceship", I had the impression that it definitely had an East European vibe to it, and the only Slavic speculative fiction author I was familiar with was Stanislaw Lem (whose best known work is probably "Solaris", although my favorite piece is "Non Serviam"). Sure enough, this movie turns out to be based on a Lem piece from decades back. Lem's dispassionate, Kabbalistic voice and speech rhythms, and his gift for oddly moving plots and characters somehow survived the adaptation to film and the tiny budget and the "Engrish" translation, leaving a dignity and substance to the proceedings that many contemporary American sci fi flicks can't match.

No, this will never be anyone's first choice for a space opera shoot-em-up, but under the crappy dubbing and hacked-up editing, the sympathetic eye can see that there is some good work being done here. A good item to add to the collection of the sci fi completist and archivist.

FIRST SPACESHIP ON VENUS (aka "The Silent Star") was a collaborative effort between film studios in East Germany and Poland and picked up by Crown-International Pictures for a 1962 US release. Far ahead of its time FSOV delivers the pacifist message in no uncertain terms. An international crew lands on the planet Venus to discover that a war has completely destroyed its inhabitants. Venusian landscapes are surrealistic and wonderous to behold and the spaceship itself gets my vote as the coolest cinematic craft of all time. The late Japanese/French actress and model Yoko Tani leads the cast and is fetching to look at and enjoy. Englewood Entertainment once again has delivered a flawless print of this film and is available in VHS or on DVD and is letterboxed at proper aspect ratio. The film is a bit slow even at its 78 minutes (originally it ran at 130 minutes!) This critic would love to see the uncut version someday. Superior sci-fi from the Eastern Bloc!

I don't know if it was Technicolor, but this movie was in bright colors, literally very colorful. Interesting rocket design, rudimentary science, and multi-national, multi-ethnic, multi-gender characters and crew. Otherwise typical of late 50's early 60's sci-fi. The acting wasn't bad bad, just kind of bad. There was even the hint of romance or at least a relationship connection. The special effects were what you would expect from the time - - - definitely not big budget but adequate enough to convey a true sense of curiosity and sci-fi, provided and given that there was the proper suspension of belief. All in all, lovably cheesy.