First Spaceship on Venus (East Germany/Poland)

FreeClassicMovies wrote:Released October 31, 1960: Far in the future, in 1985, a mysterious meteorite is discovered that is actually a magnetic tape from the planet Venus, from a spaceship that crashed many years ago. Earth Scientists decide to travel to Venus to discover the life that exists there.
Directed by Kurt Maetzig
Written by Jan Fethke, Wolfgang Kohlhaase, Gunter Reisch, Gunther Rucker, Alexander Stenbock-Fermor
and Kurt Maetzig from the novel by Stanislaw Lern
The Actors: Yoko Tani (Sumiko Ogimura MD), Oldrich Lukes (Prof. Harringway Hawling), Ignacy Machowski (Prof. Saltyk / Orloff), Julius Ongewe (Prof. Harringway Hawling), Michail N. Postnikow (Prof. Arsenew / Prof. Durand), Kurt Rackelmann (Prof. Sikarna)

1950s sci-fi from East Germany (wow: East Germany!). But it's drab and boring, useful only for historical interest. In the story, a humorless crew makes a routine journey to Venus and discovers ugly plants and indistinct ruins. Almost nothing interesting happens. The colors are cheap and fuzzy. Roughly half the movie is narrated to us, either by an omniscient voice-over, by a newscaster, or by members of the crew into tape recorders and microphones. This makes the movie a triumph of telling rather than showing. Even the "action" scenes are largely devoted to conversation, as the crew members attempt to Figure Things Out. Here's some typical dialogue: "Everything here is so strange. It's as if we 're trying to decipher a book in an unknown language. Let's hope that soon we'll be able to read it. Then perhaps we'll understand."

The good points include a dynamic opening credits sequence, a completely multicultural crew, a sleek spaceship, a cute little robot on treads, and German-derived words such as Intervision (worldwide television), Crawlicoptor (one man scout ship), and Cosmostrater (the main spaceship).

Goldweber, David Elroy (2012-06-14). Claws & Saucers: Science Fiction, Horror, and Fantasy Film: A Complete Guide: 1902-1982 (Kindle Locations 26351-26368). David E. Goldweber. Kindle Edition.