In Search of Ancient Astronauts (1973)

An edited version of the 1970 German documentary "Erinnerungen an die Zukunft" (Chariots of the Gods), this examines the theory that aliens have landed on Earth in ancient times and were ... See full summary »

Director:

Harald Reinl

Writers:

Erich von Däniken (book), Don Ringe (narration)

Stars:

Rod Serling, Harold P. Klein, James Lawless

Cast

Cast overview:
Rod Serling	...	Narrator
Harold P. Klein	...	Self (as Dr. Harold P. Klein)
James Lawless	...	Self (as Dr. James Lawless)
Wernher von Braun	...	Self
Carl Sagan	...	Self

Storyline

An edited version of the 1970 German documentary "Erinnerungen an die Zukunft" (Chariots of the Gods), this examines the theory that aliens have landed on Earth in ancient times and were responsible for many of mankind's oldest mysteries.

---

Plot Keywords:

ancient astronaut | paranormal phenomena | psychotronic film | alien | interview | 

---

Genres:

Documentary

---

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the first of two pilot productions for the long-running "In Search Of..." television series.

---

Connections

Edited from Chariots of the Gods (1970)

User Reviews

I was fooled... as a child

In his books, von Däniken promoted the idea that the mysteries of the world can all be explained by space aliens, who inspired the ancients to write strange things in their literature, and helped them build archaeological wonders. Of course, his ideas don't stand up to any real scrutiny. As a child, I found the von Däniken fiction-disguised-as-documentary fascinating, because I didn't check behind his nonsense. Years later, I asked an ancient languages scholar to translate the text on an ancient inscription photographed in a von Däniken book. The scholar, lacking a sensationalized agenda, translated it as something like "King [somebody] ruled here. Scribe Gishga wrote this", in contrast to the book's translation about flying chariots of fire. His quotes from materials with well-known translations are distorted by taking selected passages out of context.

I'd give the movie a "1" for its academic dishonesty in a movie that pretends to be a documentary, but it deserves slight credit (maybe a "2") for convincingly presenting its indefensible claims. For someone who is aware of the dishonesty of the movie's claims, there might also be some camp entertainment value.

Details

Country:

USA West Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 January 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Eram os Deuses Astronautas?

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono (Ryder Sound Services)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1