First Spaceship on Venus (1962)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Simply Perfect

As Good As It Gets

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Well it started out super boring, I fast-forwarded it to the just over a half of an hour mark and stopped to watch again. What caught my eye was them on Venus in their sparkly silver suits, a robot running around and a pretty eerie looking atmosphere. I watched for a few more minutes then was so bored with it I had to fast-forward to the end.I enjoy some of the Mill Creek 50-pack hidden gems but this film is not one of them to me. I found it in their Sci-Fi Classics collection. The film was jittery but that I can handle, I just can't handle the boredom it gave to me. It just was not my style.2/10

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. We enjoy 'bad' Sci-fi films (especially 50's and 60's ones), but this one is so bad on so many levels it severely tested our staying power. Badly written, badly directed, crudely edited and poorly dubbed, it barely gets above the 'homemade amateur project' level. Add to that the fact that the version available on Amazon Prime was very short (that may have been a mercy) and looked like it had been pirated on a mobile phone from a theatre screen and it became unwatchable. Whichever canal this had been dredged from, it needs to go back there with some urgency. The £3.95 we paid to watch this would have been much better spent on another bottle of wine.

Der schweigende Stern (First Spaceship on Venus) is a superb science fiction film produced behind the Iron Curtain at the height of the Cold War. Fortunately, communist ideology does not feature prominently in the film though, no doubt, the producers were keen to create something that would rival - and exceed - the Hollywood films of the era. In this, they succeeded.With a screenplay written by no less a science fiction luminary than the great Polish author, Stanislaw Lem, the film is relatively realistic in its depiction of space flight, giving it a grittiness that the frequently camp offerings from the United States all too often lack.The set of the rocket ship's interior feels far more realistic than the garishly-painted plywood sets that would feature in Star Trek in just a few years' time.Likewise, the rocket's exterior model is strikingly stylised, giving it a unique appearance.The early realism gives way to a kind of surrealist feel when the ship lands on Venus. Special effects are used to good effect to create an atmospheric, thoroughly alien world of mists and sink-holes.In contrast to Lem's later Solyaris, the alien culture encountered here is comprehensible to humans. A paradox is presented in that the alien artifacts indicate that they were significantly more advanced on a scientific level, yet still retain the aggressive, warlike tendencies that the humans in this utopian tale have left behind.Indeed, the film follows the well-worn but still valid path of warning that our moral development has not kept pace with our scientific achievements. Here, the Venusians, intent on invading Earth, have unwittingly inflicted a nuclear apocalypse upon themselves.The cry for peace and nuclear disarmament gives this film its timeless appeal. Also of interest is the fact that the rocket from earth consists of an international crew working in harmony. Again, this predates the ideas in Star Trek by several years and there seems to be a greater emphasis on true egalitarianism in this film: there is no American captain lording it over his crew, which did so much to undermine Trek's message. Unfortunately, despite these good intentions, much more character development is needed as one feels little sympathy for the crew. They are all largely interchangeable characters.Unfortunately, the film does have weaknesses, both technical and in terms of plotting. The film stock is of poor quality, the camera work quite static and some of the acting is wooden. There are no bravura moments from the director: it is all very workmanlike.Furthermore, some cringe-worthy moments do creep in, despite the overall feel of gritty realism. For instance, the ship's scientist gives the robot a "heart" within moments by simply plugging a few wires into the machine. The fact that the archive recordings are stored in robotic insects is never explained, nor is the gravity repulsor that pushes the rocket away from the planet at the end.Depending on one's view, the revelation that the alien mud is in fact energy that has been converted back into matter is either very clever or ludicrous.Pacing is a little problematic at times with the momentous nature of the discovery that the Tunguskan artifact is, in fact, Venusian in origin being very rushed.In summary, despite its problems, this film is far superior to virtually all Hollywood science fiction, chiefly due to its realistic portrayal of space flight, grittiness and atmosphere.Its attempt to portray a utopian future in which all nationalities can work in harmony is a heartfelt one at the height of the Cold War.Its message of peace is also timeless and means this film is as relevant today as ever.Without doubt then, this is one of the greatest science fiction films and one that is sadly overlooked in favour of lesser offerings from the West.

A mysterious magnetic spool found during a construction project is discovered to have originated from Venus. A rocket expedition to Venus is launched to discover the origin of the spool and the race that created it.Out Of All The Films Yes This Wins As The Best One Including "This Island Earth". Joel & The Bots Put Up A Layer On This Film That Made It At Least Watchable. The Acting Is As Good As It Got For The Sci-Fi Genre Back Then.The Idea Of This Film Is Just Too Stupid To Be Looked Upon Now But Back In Its Time This Film Could Be A Better Movie.There Is Not Much Else To Say Unfortunately Except If You Plan On Watching This In Any Way Only Do It Through MST3K.