After hearing cosmonaut Andrei (Boris Borisenko) sing love song about space flight to fellow cosmonaut Tanya (Larisa Gordeichik), aliens from the planet Centuria decide to send a delegation to Earth. Their starship crash-lands on Mars but at the last minute releases an emergency beacon that informs Earth of the disaster. After some discussion of the possible alien motives for coming to Earth, a rescue ship (the 'Ocean') is dispatched, crewed by Tanya, Paul (A. Genesin) and Vasily (Peeter Kard). The Earth ship is damaged by a solar storm and lands on Mars but cannot takeoff. The crew locate the downed alien starship and a single dead crewmember but surmise that the rest of the crew had escaped in an emergency pod and are stranded somewhere on Mars. A second ship (the 'Meteor'), crewed by Ivan Batalov (Otar Koberidze) and Andrei is despatched from Earth. The Meteor can get to Mars quickly but doesn't carry enough fuel to land, so the ship touches down on Phobos and launches surveillance satellites to search for the aliens. Ivan discovers that the alien escape pod is not on Mars but rather on Phobos and rescues a female alien, the only survivor. The Meteor's escape craft, which Ivan and Andrei had planned on taking to Mars to link up with the Ocean's crew, can only hold two people, so Andrei volunteers to stay behind: a death sentence as the Meteor lacks the fuel to take off. Despite landing in a massive Martian dust-storm, Ivan and the unconscious alien make it to the Ocean to await rescue from Earth. The final scenes are images of the alien woman being triumphantly broadcast to Earth, followed by a cryptic sequence with Andrei and Tanya on Earth and a TASS broadcast stating that the Ocean is on its way to Mars, suggesting that the Martian adventure and death of Andrei may have all been in Tanya's imagination. The film is visually imaginative, especially the opening images on the alien planet, which resemble the covers of 1960's science fiction paperbacks, and the scenes on Mars and Phobos are excellent. The 'science' in the film is an odd mix of hard and fanciful: the aliens on Centuria hear recent music from Earth but later a reference is made to a five minute time delay in radio signals from Mars to Earth, gravity on the Ocean seems to come and go, and that old sci-fi trope of meals in a pill is trotted out (one pill equals one lamb-chop). For a cold-war era film, 'Mechte navstrechu' is not overly political but the rescue ship is manned exclusively by Russians with space helmets are emblazoned 'CCCP, (despite the emphasis is placed that the emergency message was sent to Earth as a whole), and "Professor Laungton", who is suspicious the alien's motives, may be a dig at 'paranoid Americans'. The film is an odd mix of hard science (with spectacular and expensive visuals), a mawkish love story, and incongruous banter and 'flirting' amongst the cosmonauts when they are undertaking a dangerous and incredibly important mission. The films seems disjointed, which may be due to poorly translated subtitles (a reporter asks why only two people are going to Mars in a ship that holds three (hinting that room is being left for the alien), yet when the Ocean departs, there are three crew members). Another possibility is that all (or some) or the events are in Tanya's imagination. This would obviate the need for logic and continuity, but reduce an otherwise excellent space opera to a juvenile 'it was just a dream' romantic fantasy. If the special effects look familiar, it may because Roger Corman and his crew of recyclers at AIP used them to backdrop a ridiculous story about a green space-vampire-queen with a striking bouffant in 'Queen of Blood' (1966).
5 Reviews
Rescue mission into the unknown
unbrokenmetal8 July 2009
The inhabitants of planet Zenturia are receiving radio waves from planet Earth. The love song they hear is so inviting they send a space ship to Earth. When it crashes on Phobos, a moon of Mars, the Earthlings receive their emergency call and send the space ship Okean to pick up the Zenturian survivors. The rescue mission turns out very difficult due to more technical problems and the Martian sandstorms.
After a slow beginning, the movie turns out to be quite an entertaining 60s sci-fi flick with nice model building, more interested in the technical aspects than the characters, with an experimental early synth soundtrack that to today's ears is difficult to distinguish from a radio transmission failure. The movie is over too soon with just over 1 hour playing time, feels like they forgot the final act.
After a slow beginning, the movie turns out to be quite an entertaining 60s sci-fi flick with nice model building, more interested in the technical aspects than the characters, with an experimental early synth soundtrack that to today's ears is difficult to distinguish from a radio transmission failure. The movie is over too soon with just over 1 hour playing time, feels like they forgot the final act.
Rockets & romance.
punishmentpark3 September 2013
Warning: Spoilers
I understand that Roger Corman took this film and made it into his own thing for the American market. I might want to check that, but just now I saw the original, and it was really something...
The settings and the miniatures really take the cake in this one, especially considering it was made in '63. But the romantic aspect, those corny (love)songs and the dream(y) sequences give it a nice boost as well. You'll have to look past some of that 'stick figure-acting', listen to a load of out there 'scientific' talk and take some of those grand Russian sentiments in stride, but through all that this is quite the entertaining flick.
7 out of 10.
The settings and the miniatures really take the cake in this one, especially considering it was made in '63. But the romantic aspect, those corny (love)songs and the dream(y) sequences give it a nice boost as well. You'll have to look past some of that 'stick figure-acting', listen to a load of out there 'scientific' talk and take some of those grand Russian sentiments in stride, but through all that this is quite the entertaining flick.
7 out of 10.
Stunning, Influential, and Overlooked
Steve_Nyland9 February 2010
Say what you like about the Soviet Union when it comes to totalitarianism, but they sure knew how to make a science fiction movie when they put their state employed artists to the task. This 64 minute film is equally on par with the visionary scope & execution of any American, British, or whoever's science fiction films from the era. And doubtlessly influenced generations of filmmakers who managed to see it, from Mario Bava through Dan O'Bannon, the Skotek brothers & James Cameron, maybe even yourself.
As chance may have it the film's standout effects sequences are better known than some may be aware of. This was one of three Soviet scifi epics who's American & UK rights were purchased by Roger Corman in the early 1960s -- "Nebo zovyot" (1960), or THE SKY IS CALLING; "Planeta Bur" (1962), or PLANET OF STORMS; and "Mechte navstrechu" (1963), or A DREAM COME TRUE, also known by the more descriptive title ENCOUNTER IN SPACE.
All were high-profile state run projects celebrating the spirit of adventurism & collective pride that the Soviet people took in their somewhat troubled space program. The Soviets couldn't put a crew on the moon or Mars or Venus, so they made movies depicting what their fantasists thought it might be like. One of the most striking aspects of the production is the hardware employed. Not just the highly touted, complex and eye popping model effects -- which put even animation greats Gerry Anderson & Derek Meddings to shame -- but the hands-on hardware of the production designs. The space suits, interiors of the spacecraft, tools, computers, devices and contraptions. They all have a kind of visual authority to them that is quite convincing and far from someone stapling a muffin tin to a foil suit to simulate a respirator.
"Nebo zovyot" (also made by this film's director, Mikhail Karzhukov) took us into space on a sobering, realistic tale of astronauts who put aside the glory of exploration to help the otherwise doomed crew of a rival power's mission to Mars. Pavel Klushantsev's more well known "Planeta Bur" actually managed to put its crew on Venus where they & their robot helper encountered all manner of fascinating adventures, though they never met any of the alien damsels who's haunting presence was only hinted at. Then Karzhukov was brought back for "Mechte navstrechu" where he got to deliver on the promise of alien contact back on Mars. Those Russians got around.
The premise is actually quite engaging: Loyal party scientists intercept a message from outer space sent by an alien race seeking friendly contact & cheap Russian made cars. An alien emissary is dispatched in the form of a fetching, curvaceous woman looking great in a spacesuit who's craft crash lands on the windswept surface of Mars. A highly trained Russian crew is sent on a death-defying mission to save her, with various technical problems creating conflict & loss, with some obligatory heroic sacrfice. There's some flag waving to be sure (though not as obnoxiously as "Nebo zovyot's" proletariat Worker Day parade ending) but its not like our movies didn't do the same or worse. The story is more focused on the human interactions of the crew, one of which is of course a foxy Russian babe who could evoke détente just by fluttering her eyebrows. She must have been a hit at the state owned radio factory she worked at for her day job.
Now, the way Corman imported the films was to chop out some of the dialog sections, re-staging new scenes with American audience familiar actors to tell what usually ended up being a perversion of the original story. Then entirely new English dialog would be dubbed over that often had nothing to do with the original Russian stories. See BATTLE BEYOND THE SUN, VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET, and VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF PREHISTORIC WOMEN for the other results, all of which are still quite entertaining. The bulk of this film was used by director Curtis Harrington for a charming little movie called QUEEN OF BLOOD (or PLANET OF BLOOD on the AIP TV print which legions of us remember from Saturday afternoon Monster Movie Matinees) that anticipated ALIEN with a less friendly alien emissary tagging a ride back on a human ship for Earth. Leave it to Roger Corman to find unwholesomeness in the most hopeful of scenarios, though good call on snagging the model effects sequences.
The original unedited Russian version is apparently circulating on an obscure commercial Divex format release from Germany, though I have only been able to find a copy of it so far. Aside from some truly sappy musical segments it is an astounding technical achievement, though I do miss Basil Rathbone imparting dire urgency on the proceedings. The two films couldn't be more different even if they share the same core 45 minutes or so of footage (plus some additional inserts from the other two Russian films in QUEEN OF BLOOD -- it's hard to keep track of them!), and its still a fascinating experience for any fan of science fiction cinema.
8/10
As chance may have it the film's standout effects sequences are better known than some may be aware of. This was one of three Soviet scifi epics who's American & UK rights were purchased by Roger Corman in the early 1960s -- "Nebo zovyot" (1960), or THE SKY IS CALLING; "Planeta Bur" (1962), or PLANET OF STORMS; and "Mechte navstrechu" (1963), or A DREAM COME TRUE, also known by the more descriptive title ENCOUNTER IN SPACE.
All were high-profile state run projects celebrating the spirit of adventurism & collective pride that the Soviet people took in their somewhat troubled space program. The Soviets couldn't put a crew on the moon or Mars or Venus, so they made movies depicting what their fantasists thought it might be like. One of the most striking aspects of the production is the hardware employed. Not just the highly touted, complex and eye popping model effects -- which put even animation greats Gerry Anderson & Derek Meddings to shame -- but the hands-on hardware of the production designs. The space suits, interiors of the spacecraft, tools, computers, devices and contraptions. They all have a kind of visual authority to them that is quite convincing and far from someone stapling a muffin tin to a foil suit to simulate a respirator.
"Nebo zovyot" (also made by this film's director, Mikhail Karzhukov) took us into space on a sobering, realistic tale of astronauts who put aside the glory of exploration to help the otherwise doomed crew of a rival power's mission to Mars. Pavel Klushantsev's more well known "Planeta Bur" actually managed to put its crew on Venus where they & their robot helper encountered all manner of fascinating adventures, though they never met any of the alien damsels who's haunting presence was only hinted at. Then Karzhukov was brought back for "Mechte navstrechu" where he got to deliver on the promise of alien contact back on Mars. Those Russians got around.
The premise is actually quite engaging: Loyal party scientists intercept a message from outer space sent by an alien race seeking friendly contact & cheap Russian made cars. An alien emissary is dispatched in the form of a fetching, curvaceous woman looking great in a spacesuit who's craft crash lands on the windswept surface of Mars. A highly trained Russian crew is sent on a death-defying mission to save her, with various technical problems creating conflict & loss, with some obligatory heroic sacrfice. There's some flag waving to be sure (though not as obnoxiously as "Nebo zovyot's" proletariat Worker Day parade ending) but its not like our movies didn't do the same or worse. The story is more focused on the human interactions of the crew, one of which is of course a foxy Russian babe who could evoke détente just by fluttering her eyebrows. She must have been a hit at the state owned radio factory she worked at for her day job.
Now, the way Corman imported the films was to chop out some of the dialog sections, re-staging new scenes with American audience familiar actors to tell what usually ended up being a perversion of the original story. Then entirely new English dialog would be dubbed over that often had nothing to do with the original Russian stories. See BATTLE BEYOND THE SUN, VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET, and VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF PREHISTORIC WOMEN for the other results, all of which are still quite entertaining. The bulk of this film was used by director Curtis Harrington for a charming little movie called QUEEN OF BLOOD (or PLANET OF BLOOD on the AIP TV print which legions of us remember from Saturday afternoon Monster Movie Matinees) that anticipated ALIEN with a less friendly alien emissary tagging a ride back on a human ship for Earth. Leave it to Roger Corman to find unwholesomeness in the most hopeful of scenarios, though good call on snagging the model effects sequences.
The original unedited Russian version is apparently circulating on an obscure commercial Divex format release from Germany, though I have only been able to find a copy of it so far. Aside from some truly sappy musical segments it is an astounding technical achievement, though I do miss Basil Rathbone imparting dire urgency on the proceedings. The two films couldn't be more different even if they share the same core 45 minutes or so of footage (plus some additional inserts from the other two Russian films in QUEEN OF BLOOD -- it's hard to keep track of them!), and its still a fascinating experience for any fan of science fiction cinema.
8/10
Great Soviet Sci-Fi
andreygrachev10 January 2009
It turned out that there were made great number of cool films in the times of the USSR. This one we could find only in 21st century. Very rare and expensive sci-fi , and it much better than Mario Bava's PLANET of VAMPIRES. Scientific outrageous plot. Good acting , fantastic special effects for all 60s sci fi fans. In addition to good casting and directing this one has great electronic music. This film is the first Soviet electronic music composer Edward Artemiev's debut. And his electronic score is rather cool for 1962 when it was recorded. No more words. try to find it anyway.
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