8/10
High tech Soviet sci-fi (Americanized)
27 September 2010
Derived from a magnificent, early 60's Soviet sci-fi about a manned trip to Venus. The models, sets, vehicles, weapons, robots, costumes, and other tech items are equal to or better than the best of its Western contemporaries in terms of imagination and realism. Co-starring Faith Domergue and Basil Rathbone - yes, Sherlock Holmes - in overdubbed scenes designed, I guess, to make you not notice that in the rest of the movie, the dubbed English audio track doesn't follow the Russian lip movements. The original Russian story does come through, of a fantastically complex world explored by men from Earth employing high tech contrivances. In fact, the quality of the engineering is so good, they must have had input from Soviet industry and/or academia. All in all, a fascinating peak into Soviet sci-fi and how Hollywood had to mask its Soviet pedigree to have it accepted by Americans.
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