This 1965 film is supposed to be looking at life in the year 2020, but actually ends up looking like it was shot in 1915. The science in this film is... anti-science... and the sets are so empty and spartan that the whole movie looks like it was shot inside a cardboard box.
This film tells the story of man's first flight to the planet Venus. It stars Basil Rathbone (briefly), who plays the role of Professor Hartman, the director of interplanetary flight operations. Ground control operations are based on the moon, and from this base station communications are conducted -- via the use of police radios -- with a small fleet (three ships) that are racing 200 million miles to the planet Venus. Yes: science is bad, since Venus's distance from the earth (depending on the two planets' orbital relationships) range between 26 and 160 million miles.
Various disasters are greeted. One spaceship is snuffed out after it gets clobbered by a meteor, and one spaceship steers off course and lands in uncharted territory. A rescue ship, orbiting the planet, is sent in to extricate the downed astronauts. Venus, it turns out, is teeming with life: prehistoric animals, swamp monsters, fish and all manner of critters. What is interesting, though, is that the astronauts' main focus seems to be on collecting rock and water samples... a pretty neat trick on a planet that has a surface temperature of about 900ºF.
Funniest Line in the Movie: There was a small amount of tension and concern when the Venus party lost contact with its orbiting command ship. When contact was finally re-established, the men asked Marsha (the command module pilot) why her orbit had changed. In response to the observation -- "But your orbit is different!" -- Marsha replies: "Well... the propellers had already started and [my orbit] changed before I could shut them off."
Ho-ho-ho. I laughed plenty of times.
This film tells the story of man's first flight to the planet Venus. It stars Basil Rathbone (briefly), who plays the role of Professor Hartman, the director of interplanetary flight operations. Ground control operations are based on the moon, and from this base station communications are conducted -- via the use of police radios -- with a small fleet (three ships) that are racing 200 million miles to the planet Venus. Yes: science is bad, since Venus's distance from the earth (depending on the two planets' orbital relationships) range between 26 and 160 million miles.
Various disasters are greeted. One spaceship is snuffed out after it gets clobbered by a meteor, and one spaceship steers off course and lands in uncharted territory. A rescue ship, orbiting the planet, is sent in to extricate the downed astronauts. Venus, it turns out, is teeming with life: prehistoric animals, swamp monsters, fish and all manner of critters. What is interesting, though, is that the astronauts' main focus seems to be on collecting rock and water samples... a pretty neat trick on a planet that has a surface temperature of about 900ºF.
Funniest Line in the Movie: There was a small amount of tension and concern when the Venus party lost contact with its orbiting command ship. When contact was finally re-established, the men asked Marsha (the command module pilot) why her orbit had changed. In response to the observation -- "But your orbit is different!" -- Marsha replies: "Well... the propellers had already started and [my orbit] changed before I could shut them off."
Ho-ho-ho. I laughed plenty of times.