Yes, it is interesting to read the story of how surplus footage of a Russian sci-fi movie got inter-cut with newly shot footage and capped with a voice-over from Peter Bogdanovich (also directing, and then starting to make his way in this world which we call the biz of show).
Yes, it is enterprising, and shows the ingenuity with which someone can take some source material which is perhaps unusable on its own but which has some potential and, thereby, moves towards making a whole which is greater than the sum of the parts.
Yes, it explains why what is obvious some fairly well financed production values sit in a movie which is equally obviously dead cheap. It explains why there are some well matched sound effects but no synchronised dialogue: the story is told in voice-over. It may even (though not necessarily explain why the print which appears on TV contains just enough colour value to leave you with the thought that perhaps this was once a colour original.
But make no mistake: no matter how ingenious, how fascinating the story behind this film, the movie itself is perfectly, absolutely, irredeemably dreadful to the point of unwatchability (unless you like watching interminable hours of indentikit blonde women in slacks swanning about on rocks as waves break behind them. And believe me, the appeal palls quickly).
Yes, it is enterprising, and shows the ingenuity with which someone can take some source material which is perhaps unusable on its own but which has some potential and, thereby, moves towards making a whole which is greater than the sum of the parts.
Yes, it explains why what is obvious some fairly well financed production values sit in a movie which is equally obviously dead cheap. It explains why there are some well matched sound effects but no synchronised dialogue: the story is told in voice-over. It may even (though not necessarily explain why the print which appears on TV contains just enough colour value to leave you with the thought that perhaps this was once a colour original.
But make no mistake: no matter how ingenious, how fascinating the story behind this film, the movie itself is perfectly, absolutely, irredeemably dreadful to the point of unwatchability (unless you like watching interminable hours of indentikit blonde women in slacks swanning about on rocks as waves break behind them. And believe me, the appeal palls quickly).