Planet of Storms

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Movie
German title Planet of Storms
Original title Планета бурь
(Planeta Bur)
Country of production Soviet Union
original language Russian
Publishing year 1962
length 72 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Pavel Klushanzew
script Alexander Kazantsev ,
Pavel Klushanzew
production L. Presnyakova ,
Vladimir Jemelyanov
music Johann Admoni ,
Alexander Tschernow
camera Arkady Klimov
cut Wolt Suslow
occupation
synchronization

Planet of Storms (original title in Russian Планета бурь , transcribed Planeta Bur ) is a Soviet science fiction film by director Pavel Klushanzew from 1962. It is based on a story of the same name by Alexander Kazantsev and is about an expedition to Venus , its participants there encounter primeval forms of life and traces of inhabitants.

In the USA , the film was modified in 1965 and 1968, some scenes were shot again, and released as the American productions Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet and Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women .

action

The three spaceships Sirius , Wega and Capella of the newest cosmic expedition of the Soviet Union are in formation flight on the way to Venus. As they approach the planet, the Capella is destroyed by the collision with a large meteoroid and their crew is killed. The remaining crews will be informed of the earth, that the subsequent replacement, the Arcturus is made ready. In the meantime, they should take a satellite orbit and from there explore the environmental conditions prevailing on Venus. The original plan is for the spacecraft that has the fuel supply to remain in orbit and the other two to land together.

The crew of the Sirius consists of the three spacemen Ilya Wassiljewitsch Vershinin, Roman Bobrow and Aljoscha, that of Vega from Iwan "Wanja" Stscherba, Mascha Iwanowa and the American Allan Kern with his humanoid robot John . Alyosha will not for months in orbit for the arrival of Arcturus wait and immediately even prefer the space plane of Wega land, however, can not return. He can change the mind of others to consider possible alternatives. According to John's calculation, one person would have to stay in orbit on Vega , two could land with him with the spacecraft and the rest with the Sirius . When starting back with the Sirius, he would have to stay behind on Venus, as it is just an automaton and the heaviest of all the expedition participants. Remote sensing of the environmental conditions on the surface of Venus does not reveal a suitable landing site in the intended landing area. Stscherba suggests to the crew of the Sirius to look for a landing place for their spaceship with the space glider and submits the plan calculated with John's help. Stscherba, Kern and John then set off with the space glider. Mascha remains on board the Wega and ensures radio contact with the earth.

The crew of the space glider discovered a small plain in a valley basin within the intended landing area, square 73, and threw a beacon there for the Sirius ; however, the space glider is then “driven off” (the only indication of a storm in the plot) and lands in a bog between high rocks. Your radio connection will then break off. The Sirius follows the beacon and touches down safely during the night. The next morning Alyosha explored the first of Sirius the surrounding, very foggy environment. Between rocks he is overwhelmed by a life form that resembles a carnivorous plant with octopus-like tentacles. Vershinin and Bobrow are able to free him from his position with their knives after they have become aware of singing noises and have followed them. When she subsequently contacted Mascha, she reported that she had successfully located the space glider 32 kilometers behind a bay using radar . Its crew is currently defending itself against an attack by several man-sized, upright hopping, predatory lizards. Stscherba and Kern defend themselves with pistols and stones, while Kern has to repair John even further. Then the robot stretches a rope to the space glider for the further progress of its companions.

The Sirius crew behavior, meanwhile, with the car in search of them. The vehicle floating above the ground is actually only intended for short distances. On the way they see a large sauropod standing nearby , and Alyosha takes a blood sample from him with the help of the pistol. You learn from Mascha that the robot is currently moving towards you. With Stscherba and Kern, he is conquering a very rugged rocky terrain. The two spacemen only have oxygen for twenty-four hours. You are exhausted and feel as if you have mala fever . To protect against the increasing wetness, all three go to a cave. The three in the car have meanwhile reached the shore of the sea bay and hear the siren-like singing sounds there again . While crossing the "Bobrow Bay", they manage to reach John with the walkie-talkie . This describes the helpless state of his two companions. According to the instructions, John opens their helmet visors for a short time and gives them a tablet and water. Later in the trip across the bay to the sliding carriage is from a pterosaur attacked with glowing eyes. Despite the on-board gun, the car is not up to the attacks. The inmates open an opening in the floor and let water flow in.

Mascha sees the car disappear from the radar screen and the radio connection is lost. She is very worried as it is not a diving vehicle. She grapples with her need to help others and notifies the earth that she intends to land contrary to instructions. The earth then appeals to them not to leave orbit, because otherwise the return to earth is no longer possible for everyone. The trio of Sirius has submerged the car in an unconventional way and pulls it across the seabed. As the three rest a little, Alyosha sees a series of rock formations that resemble a sunken city. Behind an entrance he notices a strangely shaped stone and takes it. Bobrow notices a "stone dragon head" that resembles the head of the pterosaur. According to Vershinin, it could be of artificial origin because he discovered a ruby as an eye on it. They raise a buoy at this point to mark them .

Stscherba and Kern are fine again. With his thin metal rope, John pulls a very large tree to the ground so that its trunk forms a bridge over a rocky canyon. Then he plays his favorite piece of music at Kern's request. They cross the gorge with the sound of the swing . In the evening, the men of the Sirius pull their chariot to the bank they reached. Until he is ready to go again, they speculate around the campfire about the origin and fate of the Venusians . Then they hear that eerie singing voice again and wonder whether this could be a warning of danger. The three from Vega have moved into a cave again and watch the eruption of a volcano from there. To be on the safe side, look for an elevated place. When taking lava samples, they are still trapped in the lava flow. Kern instructs John to carry him and Stscherba through the lava flow. When the heat on the robot's feet becomes too great and the movement with the additional load endangers its mechanism, it is forced to free itself from the load. While he is about to remove the two from his shoulders, they try to turn off his self-protection. The crew of the approaching car sees this scene. Before those in dire straits can deactivate the robot, it collapses. Those trapped in the lava flow on John are rescued by car. In the group, Kern has to watch his robot get carried away by the lava.

On the way back to Sirius, the men on the shores of the bay ponder once more about extraterrestrial life and the spread of civilizations in space. Now the landing parties are exploring the planet together. On the way back from a successful expedition they hear the siren-like singing again. The tape recorder in Sirius recorded a broadcast from Mascha in which she announced that she would land on Venus out of concern about her companions, instead of staying in orbit. Contacting her does not succeed. Vershinin makes to fly with Bobrow to orbit the proposal, in order there, the Vega to look for all the research results to Earth and send the Arcturus to call, while the rest remain provisionally on Venus. To do this, the unnecessary equipment must be unloaded, because otherwise the Sirius would be too heavy to take off. Suddenly there is a tremor and the spaceship tilts. The plateau with the landing site is also washed away by a flood. Now everything has to go very quickly. Since Vershinin noticed the record of the last radar registration of Wega , with which it becomes clear that it is not landed. A radio link is now established with Mascha, and nobody needs to stay behind on the planet. When Aljoscha hastily worked on a locking lever on the weather station with the stone found on the seabed, it broke and an ivory-colored plaque with a relief of a female face appeared. For him this is proof that human beings exist on Venus. He excitedly calls for the start to be aborted, but is pulled through the door into the spaceship, which takes off immediately. When Sirius is gone, a white-clad female figure with a hood as seen on the plaque is reflected in a pool of water; however, this reflection cannot be seen in the German version.

Further technical data

  • World premiere: April 14, 1962
  • Format: 35mm film , color
  • Editor: Marianne Lüttig
  • Sound: Ralph Kollowa
  • Distribution: Progress Film-Vertrieb ( Progress Film-Verleih ), East Berlin
  • German premiere: September 28, 1962

Reviews

For the lexicon of international film , Planet of the Storms was "a moderately entertaining, undemanding science fiction film that tells its story with incredible naivety".

The Monthly Film Bulletin concluded that “this Russian space opera ” was “more reasonable” compared to “an average American production […] and reflected“ more real ”science fiction than“ normally does ”.

German version

The German version was created in the VEB DEFA studio for synchronization, Atelier Weimar . The German dialogues were written by Egon Sartorius and directed by Hella Graf. This version is slightly shortened; for example, Mascha is not seen in the only depictions of weightlessness , and in the end the reflection of the extraterrestrial woman in the water is missing.

role actor Voice actor
Ilya Vershinin Vladimir Emelyanov Herbert Sievers
Roman Bobrov Georgi Schschonow Manfred Zetzsche
Alyosha Gennady Wernow Winfried Wagner *)
Ivan Stscherba Yuri Sarantsev Hans Gora
Masha Ivanova Kjunna Ignatova Christa Gottschalk
Allan Kern Georgi pond Hannes Felgner
*) In the opening credits, the first name of Wernow's spokesman is incorrectly given as Siegfried.

Revisions in the USA

Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet

Using the film material from Planeta Bur (Planet of the Storms) , Roger Corman produced the newly edited version Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet under the direction of Curtis Harrington in 1965 , in which he also included excerpts from the Soviet science fiction film The Sky at the beginning of the film gets reused and the background of the plot is explained in more detail by a speaker's voice. In addition, additional scenes were filmed with Basil Rathbone , who, as Prof. Hartmann, leads the international expedition from Lunar Station 7 in this case . The scenes with Mascha were re-shot with Faith Domergue as Dr. Marsha Evans replaced. The names of all characters, except Kerns, have been changed and replaced with non-Russian names for international origins.

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women

Also on behalf of Roger Corman, the director Peter Bogdanovich used the material dubbed in English for Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet by Planeta Bur for the film version Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women . To this end, he used other excerpts from Heaven calls and for the particularly extensive introduction, other footage. The name Marsha , which can still be heard , is explained as a code name for the control center on earth. As a main addition, Bogdanovich shot scenes with a group of young, scantily clad women led by Mamie van Doren . These scenes were assembled with the source material in such a way that the women represent the inhabitants of Venus. They worship a replica of the head of a pterosaur, later overturn it from the base and instead set up the burnt-out robot John . It ties in with the initial scenes in which the space travelers discover the "stone dragon head", their robot perishes in the lava flow and, based on the image on the plaque, they recognize that there are traces of human beings on the planet. The plot is bound by Bogdanovich's voice.

VHS and DVD releases

The film was released on the German DVD market with its original synchronization by DEFA as the Planet of Storms . In addition, a German version of the US version Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet was released on DVD under the title Journey to the prehistoric planet . In the USA, a video cassette was offered for a time, which, in addition to this film, also contained the heavily mutilated US version of DEFA's The Silent Star .

Others

  • The Sirius glider car bears a strong resemblance to the supercar from the British television series Supercar by Gerry Anderson , which was broadcast in Great Britain and the USA from 1961 to 1962.
  • The predatory lizards in the moor look like man-sized versions of the monster Godzilla created in 1954 . Stscherba shoots them with a Makarow pistol , while Kern fights with a Borchardt C93 , recognizable by the characteristic knee joint lock . The Borchardt C93 is a powerful weapon, but in 1961 it was obsolete for decades (manufactured from 1894–1898) and does not fit into a future film.
  • The cosmonauts wear the standard wrist compass ( Adrianov type ) of the Soviet armed forces.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ PAL speed, length in original speed: 75 minutes
  2. ↑ Planet of Storms. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ^ Monthly Film Bulletin . Quoted from: Ronald M. Hahn, Volker Jansen: Lexicon of Science Fiction Films . Vol. 2, 1997, p. 694.
  4. ↑ Planet of Storms. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on March 2, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Different lengths: USSR: 78 min., GDR: 72 min. On IMDb.com
  6. ↑ Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  7. ↑ Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  8. ↑ See: Karsten Kruschel: Glue for Venus. The science fiction film in the GDR . In: Sascha Mamczak (Ed.), Wolfgang Jeschke (Ed.): The Science Fiction Year 2007 . P. 835.
  9. ↑ Planet of Storms (Planeta Bur) in the Internet Movie Firearms Database (English)