My movie memory has the strange habit of sticking often to the movies seen many years ago the place and circumstances in which I saw the movie. I was about ten years old when I first saw the 'Storms Planet'. The year was about 1963, in my native Romania. The recent re-viewing of the Soviet film that was originally called 'Planet Bur' has also brought me a journey in time by watching this film about a space trip. It may have been one of the first science fiction films I've ever seen, if not the first, from a long series that continues until today, because the passion for the genre born in those years has not diminished, but on the contrary . It was probably also one of the first Soviet films that I saw, a singular and quite special film even in the scene of the Soviet cinema of those years.
In fact, there was a race in parallel to the space exploration race between the two great superpowers - the Soviet Union and the United States - representing the two political systems that were involved in the Cold War complex system of relations that included armed diplomacy and a balance of nuclear terror. Cinematography as a popular art form with the largest distribution among the general public tried to mirror this competition.
As far as we know, 'The Storm Planet' was the only film of fiction directed by Klushantsev. The scientific orientation of the team he worked with is evident in the attention paid to the scientific elements in relation to the lean and conventional structure of intrigue and narrative. If the image of spacecraft does not impress us compared to the effects created on the computer we are used to today, the scenes of imponderability or the naturalistic description of the contact between people and the monsters that inhabit the planet are executed with precision. Even in the perspective of today, after hundreds of science fiction films watched in half a century, some scenes remain for me expressive. Others are less successful, for example, the dinosaur silhouettes with which Klushantsev and his colleagues have populated the planet seem to be taken from the illustrations in a school manual. The intrigue itself does not offer too much reason to comment, it's as complex as an episode of the 'Star Trek' television series that would appear a few years later. Cosmonauts are surprisingly independent, and after one of the three spaceships of the mission is destroyed by a meteorite they decide on their own, with Soviet abnegation, to continue the mission. The two exploring teams are lost momentarily and will look for each other to face the dangers. The only woman in the crew will also have to make a crucial life and death decision. Heroism and devotion to space.
Surprising (in good) is the rather small amount of propaganda in a movie that was also intended to respond to similar American films. In a single moment of the film,we are served with a thank-you speech for the Soviet peoples' support. There is also a non-Soviet character, researcher Kern, who has a little of the 'capitalist' ideas but is still a positive character. We are told that he is funded by an independent group of researchers. The concept of an international mission was not born yet, but we are on the right track. The Americans would reciprocate with the presence of Commander Chekhov on the command deck of the first Star Trek mission. Kern is also the manipulator of the John robot, which is pretty well done as a cinematic vision, and one of the first robots in the history of the film capable not only of intelligence and a spirit of sacrifice but also of a sense of humor. The film is less good in what concerns the costumes worn during the orbital voyage, the style of the elegant space uniforms has not yet come.
The film's scientific aspects also include some weaknesses. The choice of the planet Venus as a target of exploration reflects the state of scientific knowledge existing in the early 60's. The atmospheric conditions on Venus (as well as Mars otherwise) were little known and both the Soviets and the Americans sent automatic probes to both planets. Subsequent data (largely provided by the Soviet probes) would show that the atmosphere of Venus is composed of poisonous gases, temperatures and atmospheric pressure are extremely high, and life as imagined in the film is virtually impossible. In one field, the authors stumbled precisely - the storms. Otherwise, the opening of the space helmet on the surface of the planet as it happens in one of the scenes would immediately kill the astronauts.
Overall it's a piece of nostalgia worth viewing or re-viewing.
In fact, there was a race in parallel to the space exploration race between the two great superpowers - the Soviet Union and the United States - representing the two political systems that were involved in the Cold War complex system of relations that included armed diplomacy and a balance of nuclear terror. Cinematography as a popular art form with the largest distribution among the general public tried to mirror this competition.
As far as we know, 'The Storm Planet' was the only film of fiction directed by Klushantsev. The scientific orientation of the team he worked with is evident in the attention paid to the scientific elements in relation to the lean and conventional structure of intrigue and narrative. If the image of spacecraft does not impress us compared to the effects created on the computer we are used to today, the scenes of imponderability or the naturalistic description of the contact between people and the monsters that inhabit the planet are executed with precision. Even in the perspective of today, after hundreds of science fiction films watched in half a century, some scenes remain for me expressive. Others are less successful, for example, the dinosaur silhouettes with which Klushantsev and his colleagues have populated the planet seem to be taken from the illustrations in a school manual. The intrigue itself does not offer too much reason to comment, it's as complex as an episode of the 'Star Trek' television series that would appear a few years later. Cosmonauts are surprisingly independent, and after one of the three spaceships of the mission is destroyed by a meteorite they decide on their own, with Soviet abnegation, to continue the mission. The two exploring teams are lost momentarily and will look for each other to face the dangers. The only woman in the crew will also have to make a crucial life and death decision. Heroism and devotion to space.
Surprising (in good) is the rather small amount of propaganda in a movie that was also intended to respond to similar American films. In a single moment of the film,we are served with a thank-you speech for the Soviet peoples' support. There is also a non-Soviet character, researcher Kern, who has a little of the 'capitalist' ideas but is still a positive character. We are told that he is funded by an independent group of researchers. The concept of an international mission was not born yet, but we are on the right track. The Americans would reciprocate with the presence of Commander Chekhov on the command deck of the first Star Trek mission. Kern is also the manipulator of the John robot, which is pretty well done as a cinematic vision, and one of the first robots in the history of the film capable not only of intelligence and a spirit of sacrifice but also of a sense of humor. The film is less good in what concerns the costumes worn during the orbital voyage, the style of the elegant space uniforms has not yet come.
The film's scientific aspects also include some weaknesses. The choice of the planet Venus as a target of exploration reflects the state of scientific knowledge existing in the early 60's. The atmospheric conditions on Venus (as well as Mars otherwise) were little known and both the Soviets and the Americans sent automatic probes to both planets. Subsequent data (largely provided by the Soviet probes) would show that the atmosphere of Venus is composed of poisonous gases, temperatures and atmospheric pressure are extremely high, and life as imagined in the film is virtually impossible. In one field, the authors stumbled precisely - the storms. Otherwise, the opening of the space helmet on the surface of the planet as it happens in one of the scenes would immediately kill the astronauts.
Overall it's a piece of nostalgia worth viewing or re-viewing.