First Spaceship on Venus (1960)
"Der schweigende Stern" (original title)

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

Director:

Kurt Maetzig

Writers:

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

Stars:

Yoko Tani, Oldrich Lukes, Ignacy Machowski

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Yoko Tani	...	Die japanische Ärztin / Sumiko Ogimura MD
Oldrich Lukes	...	Amerikanischer Atomphysiker / Prof. Harringway Hawling
Ignacy Machowski	...	Polnischer Chefingenieur / Prof. Saltyk / Prof. Durand
Julius Ongewe	...	Afrikanischer Fernsehtechniker / Talua
Michail N. Postnikow	...	Sowjetischer Astronaut / Prof. Arsenew / Prof. Orloff
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:
Horst Schäfer	...	Wissenschaftler
Danuta Szaflarska	...	(voice)

Storyline

(U.S. Version) 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.

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Plot Keywords:

team | spaceship | alien | astronaut | artifact | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

East Germany Poland

Language:

German

Release Date:

31 October 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Silent Star

Filming Locations:

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

Company Credits

Production Co:

VEB DEFA-Studio für Spielfilme, Künstlerische Arbeitsgruppe ''Roter Kreis'', Film Polski

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min 95 min (short)

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This large scale East German-Polish co-production was the first to be shot in the Totalvision widescreen process.

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Goofs

One of the crew is injured during the first meteor shower, and has a gauze applied to his head. The next time he's seen the gauze has moved to the side of his head and now has a lot more tape holding it on.

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Connections

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

User Reviews

Very Forward looking film for 1958...

An AMAZING film given the year it came out-from a story by Stanislaw Lem, THE ASTRONAUTS... the story seems a little slow and stilted at first, but the ideas and the Special Effects are wonderful, including some of the sets showing the devastated surface of Venus as seen thru their 'chariot'. Maltin claims that a whole lot of this film was cut to be shown in the USA...would love to see a restored version...