Steve
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Kosmicheskiy reys (1936)
Kosmicheskiy reys: Fantasticheskaya novella is a Soviet science fiction film from 1936. This silent movie had only a brief release in its native Russia before falling out of favour with the censors. It resurfaced to a wider world audience in the 1980's where it is now more commonly known as Cosmic Voyage or The Space Voyage.
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I've never heard of this, It would be interesting to see what it's like. I noticed a rather ill conceived appendage at the very summit of the helmet on the first pic,thinking this could cause some problems I scrolled down to the third pic to see that my concerns where justified, erm -- yes that's a sight to make your eyes pop.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen this but like most the stuff that comes out of Russia, it seems to be very impressive for its time. I think I'd have to watch a bit of it before deciding if this was the USSR's version Carry On Cosmonaut.
ReplyDeleteYeah it could be interesting, it's easy to forget how good early cinema was. I can't understand what I call, the Citizen Kane adoration syndrome among film buffs. While it's a passable flick, especially in regard to the cinematography, it's ordinary in comparison to Metropolis or the silent Ben Hur both of which I'd put pretty high on my list of, all time best.
DeleteI'm a huge fan of silent cinema--it was a unique and fully realized art form by the mid 1920's. It took mainstream sound cinema decades to reach the level of narrative and visual sophistication of the best silents. In my humble opinion, of course! I completely agree about Citizen Kane--it's been put on such a lofty pedestal it's almost become sacrosanct. There seems an implicit understanding that you just don't criticize it if you want to be a genuine cinema buff. I think it's rather dull and self-consciously showy in terms of cinematography, lighting etc., but somehow it just sits there, resting inaccessible on it's lofty reputation, immune from any critical reevaluation. I'll take Metropolis (or even better Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler) or virtually any Chaplin film over Kane any day of the week! :D
ReplyDeleteAlso...is it me or is there a bit of a "Tenth Planet" Cybermen look to those suits? All those tubes and bulky appurtenances!
ReplyDeleteAs a kid, you're drawn to the cool silver scuba suit of an Invasion or Revenge cyberman but in later life the appeals of the clunky, chunky original with visible human parts stands out for being a much more horrific design.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Plus those Tenth Planet voices are so creepy and inhuman--the cadence is all wrong and they just open their mouths and it happens without any physical articulation. By the way this film is available in the US from a site called Sinister Cinema. If you haven't heard of it you should check it out--it's a treasure trove of obscure and b-movies from all over the world. They have a complete print of Planeta Bur (digitized from the print Roger Corman used to make his mashups, no-less!) amongst many others!
ReplyDeleteCheers Brad, I'll go check them out, though they would need to ship to Blighty to be any good for me.
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