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Masterful Movie

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It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Planeta Bur is another strong 1960s film from behind the Iron Curtain. Along with the likes of Ikarie XB-1 and First Spaceship on Venus, this production shows that film-makers in the communist countries were committed to producing high-quality films with a kind of gritty realism lacking in the output of their Hollywood rivals.Like most Soviet films, the production has some technical problems. The direction is very rudimentary, the colour film stock of extremely poor quality and the sound is muffled. There is no great artistry here but, despite these limitations, it is a thoroughly pleasurable science fiction film and stands head and shoulders above most Hollywood output, then and now.If anything though, this film suffers from being a little too much like First Spaceship on Venus. It features the same realistic voyage, landing on a surreal alien world, deployable surface vehicles and maintenance robot. Unfortunately, it suffers a little in comparison for whereas Stanislaw Lem was able to write about a truly alien world, this film falls back on the old and erroneous clichés of Venus being a young planet and thus features dinosaurs and the like.Nevertheless, the first half of the film is extremely strong, with an emphasis on realism in space flight. Gone are the contrivances found in most American science fiction of ships with unscientific, magical properties like faster-than-light engines and the ridiculous need for ray guns, space battles and the like. Here is a comparatively realistic space craft and a story that shows that one can encounter just as much drama exploring one's own solar system.Some of the acting is wooden but the characters are slightly better defined than in First Spaceship to Venus. The robot is, for the most part, realistically portrayed as a useful tool though there is, unfortunately, a moment of unintentional camp when rain affects its circuits, causing it to babble incoherently. Falling into campiness is a danger when creating films in this genre and, despite this moment, the writer and director successfully avoid this trap for the most part.Another fortunate thing is that the film is virtually devoid of Soviet propaganda, making it all the more watchable today.The greatest problem, though, lies in the journey's end. Venus is an interesting, alien world at first but one's interest quickly wanes and the aforementioned dinosaurs will only captivate very young children. Science fiction should present an estranged view of humanity, allowing us to reflect on ourselves and our society from afar. Lem's film does this by showing how the aggressive Venusians destroyed themselves through their imperialist ambitions and experimentation with nuclear weapons.This film, presenting a primeval world, holds up no such mirror to humanity. It does present a hope that we can work together to explore space in the future so there is a vaguely utopian feel but there is no real critique of society so it ultimately fails to be really effective science fiction.Nevertheless, despite these shortcomings, due to its realism, atmosphere and plausible depiction of robots and other space hardware, it remains an enjoyable film, just not a profound one. It is a refreshing and superior alternative to Hollywood science fiction films with their emphasis on violence, camp and fantastical space craft.

This film was one of many I recalled seeing as a kid, but couldn't track it down for many years. I first saw the "Americanized" versions (at least two; one with/without added footage of mermaids worshiping the rubber pterodactyl!). The only clear elements I remembered were "Robot John" (the Russian Robbie!)and the exotic beach/rocky precipice locales. And it has one of the first 'landspeeders' I'd seen depicted in a pre-Star Wars film. Of course, the dubbed English dialog always seemed odd; as if they were trying more to match the lip movements than tell a coherent story. For example, the commander says things like,"get popping now," and other odd phrases. A few years ago I finally saw the Russian version. The dialog is a little more adult and in certain scenes, some unexpected humor(the robot babbling about the cost of building a bridge to affect a rescue). There was a little Soviet-era chest-thumping, but really not as much as you'd think (given the time it was made). Also,there are moments in the film that border on the poetic; the woman's face in the marble-like rock, the oceanic sunset and the wonderfully ambiguous ending! Of course, the movie is dated now. At least the (Russian) producers had the sense to put a disclaimer before the credits, admitting the film is very speculative at best. However, in our current era of "re-imaginings,"(most reek; some, like Battlestar Galactica, Dawn of the Dead, are exceptional) I could easily 're-imagine' a James Cameronesque remake. Change Venus to an unknown extra-solar planet, make the crew a little less homogeneous, etc. but most importantly, go easy on CGI for the planetary vistas. One of the strengths of the film is the eerie, ruggedly exotic, yet vaguely familiar feel of the natural locations used in it(not too dissimilar from surface photos of Mars, Venus and most recently, Saturn's moon, Titan). Films like this one and "Robinson Crusoe on Mars" really opened the doors of space travel to me as a kid. As much, if not more so,than even "Star Wars" or "Star Trek." Perhaps it's just the simplicity of the story; humans (and their machines) testing themselves against an alien world. Maybe a new generation (tired of earth orbital flights on the news) could benefit from a new take on the old "man versus the cosmos" idea. Just don't sell it a super-slick, 100-explosions-a-minute cartoon like a lot of bad sci-fi out there. In the meantime, enjoy the original. Preferably the original Russian version (SinisterCinema.com). Neat little movie.

Pavel Klushantsev, who directed more Russian SF films than he's credited with here, found himself propelled from obscurity into sudden demand by the Soviet authorities when the production of his 1958 SF debut, 'Road to the Stars' coincided with the launch of Sputnik. Although he languished in almost total obscurity in the West, his films were enormously popular in the USSR, and, as a recent documentary noted, many of his cinematic innovations were 'borrowed' 10 years later by Kubrick in '2001'.Planet of Storms is not a great movie, but compared with most of the SF which the USA was churning up to this time, it's positively stellar. It's weakest points are its sketchy characterisations, and rather poor pacing, but hard SF luminaries like Gernsback and John Campbell would probably have admired its attention to detail, and relative lack of sensationalism. The film actually begins with the disclaimer "Venus may well be entirely different to this" (or somesuch), and what follows is a serious attempt to depict a Venusian expedition - marred perhaps by the odd dinosaur, but surprisingly free of Soviet chest-thumping.Planet of Storms won't blow your mind, but you'll find yourself being charmed by the ingenious photography, sets, creatures, etc. There's also a straight out hilarious scene where the Robot gets rained on, and goes off his head. While his two human companions are lying on the ground, dangerously ill from fever, he's babbling on about building a concrete highway to reach the other half of the expedition, who are are about 20 miles away. Contacting him via radio, they are somewhat alarmed to hear him tell them "According to quotes from the Smith corporation, the cost of building a highway to the Sirius is 37 million dollars". I don't know if this was a dig at capitalism, but it cracked me up anyway. Now - some bloke wanted a translation of the lyrics to the song. These are courtesy of SBS TV Australia (translated by Elena Mikrailik and Brendan Doyle)(first version)Planet of Storms, we thank you for your lessons / We enjoyed our stay, but now we must be gone / Our ship awaits; our way is clear and straight / Our hearts are calling, "home, home home" / Yes, home, dear Comrades // It's time to calculate the points of bearing / It's time to place our courage at the helm / She waits for us, the planet of our birth / Our dear home; our one and only Earth / Yes, Earth / Earth, dear Comrades //(end of movie version)Planet of Storms, we'll see you soon, don't worry / And in your harbour, our ships will gladly berth / For not in vain are we the sons of Earth / For not in vain are we the sons of Earth / Earth, dear Comrades

"Planeta Bur" is about cosmonauts who are lost on Venus, attempting to return to the spaceship, and their adventures along the way, which include encounters with prehistoric reptiles, a volcano, and other perils. Like Ptushko's "Sadko", this is a true gem of fantastic film. The use of natural and artificial sets is very effective in creating an atmospheric, alien world; the monsters (an intelligent robot, a carnivorous plant, pestiferous lizard men, a pterodactyl, and some other dinosaurs) are similarly well done. Unlike American films of this kind, there is no emphasis on macho violence or digressions into "steamy" romance scenes; instead the film concentrates on the lavish visuals in an unhurried and dignified pace. My only complaints are that the introduction is too long and slow-moving, and that the subplot involving Masha's agonizing over the fate of her comrades isn't very interesting; but the scenes on Venus, which comprise the bulk of the film, more than make up for these flaws. "Planeta Bur" was drastically edited by Peter Bogdonavitch and released in the States as "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women"; two versions exist, one with footage of Mamie Van Doren leading a tribe of telepathic Venusian women and worshipping the pterodactyl of the original film, the other without Ms. Van Doren or any of the prehistoric reptile footage.