Der schweigende Stern (1960)

Director:

Kurt Maetzig

Writers:

Stanislaw Lem (novel)
Jan Fethke (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

31 October 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

You are there... on man's most incredible journey!

Plot:

When an alien artifact discovered on Earth is found to have come from Venus, an international team of astronauts embarks to investigate its origins.

Plot Keywords:

Venus | Alien | Team | Spaceship | Astronaut

Cast

Yoko Tani	...	Die japanische Ärztin / Sumiko Ogimura MD
Oldrich Lukes	...	Amerikanischer Atomphysiker / Prof. Harringway Hawling
Ignacy Machowski	...	Polnischer Chefingenieur / Prof. Saltyk / Orloff
Julius Ongewe	...	Afrikanischer Fernsehtechniker / Talua
Michail N. Postnikow	...	Sowjetischer Astronaut / Prof. Arsenew / Prof. Durand
Kurt Rackelmann	...	Indischer Mathematiker / Prof. Sikarna
Günther Simon	...	Deutscher Pilot / Robert / Raimund Brinkmann
Tang Hua-Ta	...	Chinesische Linguistin / Dr. Tchen Yu / Lao Tsu
Lucyna Winnicka	...	Fernsehreporterin / Joan Moran (as Lucina Winnicka)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Danuta Szaflarska	...	(voice)

Also Known As:

Der Planet des Todes (East Germany) (working title)
First Spaceship on Venus (USA)
Milczaca gwiazda (Poland)
Molczaci Krzydla
Planet of the Dead
Raumschiff Venus antwortet nicht (East Germany)
Silent Star
Spaceship Venus Does Not Reply

Runtime:

93 min | USA:79 min | West Germany:80 min | East Germany:95 min (short version: 94')

Country:

East Germany | Poland

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo

Certification:

USA:Unrated | Finland:S | Sweden:11 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

DEFA-Studio für Spielfilme, Babelsberg, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Company:

Deutsche Film (DEFA)

Trivia:

In the original German version, "Brinkman(n)" isn't American but East German, and the "Durand" character is a Soviet cosmonaut by the name of "Prof. Arsenjew" (Arsenyev), "the man who steered the first rocket to the moon"!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: First Spaceship on Venus (#3.11)" (1990)

The version I saw had a lot of problems, but there is still something memorable about it

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.