FIRST
SPACESHIP ON VENUS (1960)Director: Kurt Maetzig
Image Entertainment
FIRST
SPACESHIP ON VENUS (1960)Englewood Entertainment/Wade Williams Collection goes into orbit with the release of FIRST SPACESHIP ON VENUS, a most remarkable achievement of 60s science-fiction cinema. Made in 1960 but released in the U.S. in 1962, this motion picture was a co-production between the film industries of then-Communist East Germany and Poland. In Germany it was known as "Der schweigende Stern" (The Silent Star) and was likewise titled in Polish "Milczaca Gwiazda."
Clearly this film was far ahead of its time and most influential in its genre. Set in the future year of 1985, the cosmonauts of the Cosmostrator I (the candelabra-like spacecraft) included a crew of eight consisting of a female Japanese scientist and physician, a black African cosmonaut, a Hindu linguist, a Chinese mathematician, an American captain and two others from Germany and France. Omega, a robot forerunner of R2D2 in the George Lucas epic STAR WARS (1977), rounds out the crew and provides some comic relief as a champion chess player.
Briefly the plot is such. A meteorite known as the Tungu Meteor is found in the sands of the Gobi Desert. Upon scientific examination, it is discovered to contain a magnetic spool of recordings which baffle its finders. Noted linguists who translate the recordings find it is a chronicle of the civilization of Venus, and that a previous Venusian race was bent upon invading earth and subjugating it decipher the celestial rock. However, this civilization became so warlike that it destroyed itself.
The crew of the Cosmostrator then heads for the planet Venus. The spacecraft survives a meteor shower and then lands on the eerie, stalagmite-ridden surface of the fog-shrouded planet. Superb Venusian landscapes are in evidence with swirling amorphic pink and blue clouds, the product of creators who labored on a soundstage to produce a near-psychedelic experience. During the exploration of the planet, the cosmonauts discover a gigantic, golf-ball like sphere and metallic, insect-like creatures, which populate the underground caverns, and a vitrified forest. Shadow etchings on a cavern appear to be all that remains of the war-like Venusians themselves. The obvious fact is that the Venusian inhabitants developed atomic rays meant to destroy Earth but due to an accident the rays destroyed the morning star itself. The members are attacked by black and crimson lava and the crew escapes, successfully returning to the ship for safety. A rescue operation commences to retrieve Chinese Tchen Yu whose spacesuit has been punctured. He perishes, as his oxygen supply is lost. Brinkmann, the East German cosmonaut and African Talua rush to the aid of their fellow crewman. Their efforts fail as the ship is under attack by an artificial gravitational pull and must leave the planet in haste, abandoning the heroic trio. Though the film ends on this sad note, the clear message left behind is one of hope: that war is futile, obsolete and that all civilizations must continue in peace.
The ever-exotic Yoko Tani gives a warm, sincere, and intelligent presence to the cast. Born in 1932 in Paris, she was the daughter of a Japanese father and French mother. She first became a fashion model and turned to acting in 1954 with a role in the French version of ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES starring Fernandel. Most of her 30 motion pictures were mainly French films never released in the U.S., although she had a prominent role in MARCO POLO (1961) as Princess Amurroy opposite Rory Calhoun as the Italian explorer whose voyage across Asia to China and Mongolia is legendary. Other noteworthy roles were parts in SAMSON AND THE SEVEN MIRACLES OF THE WORLD (1961) and the sci-fi thriller INVASION (1966). Her last film was the French entry CA FAIT TILT (1977). She retired from the acting profession and passed away in July of 1999 in Paris.
The talented composer Gordon Zahler (of General Music Corporation) provides a futuristic and suspenseful score which was later utilized in other Hugo Grimaldi productions. This same music track may be heard in diverse Italian sword-and-scandal epics such as HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMAN (1961) and the splendid GIANT OF METROPOLIS (1962). Zahler even wrote the score for PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (1959)!
The strong pacifist message was imparted here, the deliberate effort of Polish science-fiction author Stanislaus Lem, on whose 1951 work I Astronautci ("The Astronauts") this film was based.
Crown International Pictures distributed a 78-minute version of FIRST SPACESHIP ON VENUS in the United States. Originally the film ran 130 minutes in the Eastern Bloc though a complete uncut print has eluded the investigations of this writer. The film benefits from superior special effects for its day, a good cast and an aesthetically designed spacecraft. The slow pacing of the film actually lends an eerie suspense to the effort as the astronauts race off to the nebulous azure sister planet of earth, encounter danger on the dying celestial body and return home wiser than when they left. The Wade Williams Collection marches on with a pristine Totalscope print in the splendor of Technicolor, though this reviewer finds the color correction on its VHS presentation to be superior to the color correction on its DVD presentation. In any event, FSOV is a welcome addition to the Englewood catalogue and is worthy of inclusion in a respectable science-fiction film library. The only DVD supplemental is the presentation of the theatrical trailer.
FIRST SPACESHIP ON VENUS is simply Euro sci-fi space opera at its best. Englewood Entertainment is to be commended for their flawless presentations and one hopes they continue to provide the public with more masterful efforts. (Christopher Dietrich)