Forget the review, take me to the free movies! http://hocfocprod.com/free_cinema/public_domain_movies/
Before Star Wars there was the FIRST SPACESHIP ON VENUS!
Full disclosure, it took me three viewings to get through this movie because I kept falling asleep. I'm sure my oddball schedule was partly to blame, but the rough audio of my DVD copy and the pace of the movie surely contributed as well.
I do like movies like this, however, even if I find them a bit bland at times. It was made in 1960 and takes place in a "futuristic" 1985. So, thirty years in the past for us as viewers was 25 years in the future for them. It's always interesting to see how far ahead or behind mankind was compared to what sci-fi writers thought we would accomplish.
In this 1985 we have at least three lunar bases and space travel, while still primitive compared to Star Trek and the like, is fairly commonplace. Artificial gravity exists and rockets can be flown by super smart computers. Chess playing robots with caterpillar treads for getting around are part of the space program and spacesuits come in spiffy colors.
The adventure begins about 100 years earlier, when a meteor crashes to earth. During a 1985 dig parts of it are found and it is determined that the meteor was actually a spaceship from another planet. A sort of "recording" is found and partially translated. This is referred to throughout the movie as the "Cosmic Document".
Being human beings, once our characters know there is life out there they want to talk to it. Through the process of elimination it is determined the Cosmic Document must have come from Venus, because in this version of the "future" we know Venus is pretty much like Earth. There is no response when we send signals to Venus and so an expedition to the planet is begun.
This is when other movies, would get exciting, but no here. Not yet. We're treated to all of the old fashioned "wonder" of space travel. Some of it they got right. Like liquefied food for eating on zero gravity (even though artificial gravity is on nearly all of the time). We get told how the computer can fly the ship better than any human just before it proves that it isn't much at flying at all and we watch a tiny robot consistently embarrass a scientist at chess.
The excitement starts in about the last third of the movie and builds from there as the rest of the Cosmic Document is translated, we find out more about the Venusians and see the planet itself.
All in all, if you're a fan of old sci-fi and miniatures as special F/X, you'll have something to watch here. If you're a science and history buff of sorts, you may enjoy comparing our old ideas of space travel to what we found out the realities were just nine years later.
The acting is uneven, partially because of the dubbing. Since the movie has fallen into the public domain most of the copies I have seen suffer from poor audio and image quality, but are watchable.
If it's raining out and you've seen everything in your DVR or are just in the mood for something unusual, give this space adventure a whirl. If you're pressed for time, watch the opening 15 minutes and then skip to the last 30 or so.
You can see the movie over at HFP's Free Public Domain Cinema.
Meanwhile, enjoy this trailer:
Before Star Wars there was the FIRST SPACESHIP ON VENUS!
Full disclosure, it took me three viewings to get through this movie because I kept falling asleep. I'm sure my oddball schedule was partly to blame, but the rough audio of my DVD copy and the pace of the movie surely contributed as well.
I do like movies like this, however, even if I find them a bit bland at times. It was made in 1960 and takes place in a "futuristic" 1985. So, thirty years in the past for us as viewers was 25 years in the future for them. It's always interesting to see how far ahead or behind mankind was compared to what sci-fi writers thought we would accomplish.
In this 1985 we have at least three lunar bases and space travel, while still primitive compared to Star Trek and the like, is fairly commonplace. Artificial gravity exists and rockets can be flown by super smart computers. Chess playing robots with caterpillar treads for getting around are part of the space program and spacesuits come in spiffy colors.
The adventure begins about 100 years earlier, when a meteor crashes to earth. During a 1985 dig parts of it are found and it is determined that the meteor was actually a spaceship from another planet. A sort of "recording" is found and partially translated. This is referred to throughout the movie as the "Cosmic Document".
Being human beings, once our characters know there is life out there they want to talk to it. Through the process of elimination it is determined the Cosmic Document must have come from Venus, because in this version of the "future" we know Venus is pretty much like Earth. There is no response when we send signals to Venus and so an expedition to the planet is begun.
This is when other movies, would get exciting, but no here. Not yet. We're treated to all of the old fashioned "wonder" of space travel. Some of it they got right. Like liquefied food for eating on zero gravity (even though artificial gravity is on nearly all of the time). We get told how the computer can fly the ship better than any human just before it proves that it isn't much at flying at all and we watch a tiny robot consistently embarrass a scientist at chess.
The excitement starts in about the last third of the movie and builds from there as the rest of the Cosmic Document is translated, we find out more about the Venusians and see the planet itself.
All in all, if you're a fan of old sci-fi and miniatures as special F/X, you'll have something to watch here. If you're a science and history buff of sorts, you may enjoy comparing our old ideas of space travel to what we found out the realities were just nine years later.
The acting is uneven, partially because of the dubbing. Since the movie has fallen into the public domain most of the copies I have seen suffer from poor audio and image quality, but are watchable.
If it's raining out and you've seen everything in your DVR or are just in the mood for something unusual, give this space adventure a whirl. If you're pressed for time, watch the opening 15 minutes and then skip to the last 30 or so.
You can see the movie over at HFP's Free Public Domain Cinema.
Meanwhile, enjoy this trailer:
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