First Spaceship on Venus (1962)

Yoko Tani	Sumiko Ogimura
Oldrich Lukes	Harringway
Ignacy Machowski	Orloff
Julius Ongewe	Talua
Michail N. Postnikow	Durand
Kurt Rackelmann	Sikarna
Günther Simon	Brinkman
Tang Hua-Ta	Tchen Yu
Lucyna Winnicka	Joan Moran
Eva Maria Hagen	Female Reporter (uncredited)
Michal Postnikow	Durand
Gunther Simon	Brinkman
Michail Postnikow
N/A
Fritz Decho	(uncredited)
Gertraud Kreissig	(uncredited)
Ruth-Maria Kubitschek	Mrs. Brinkman (uncredited)
Eduard von Winterstein	Weiland (uncredited)

Director	Hieronim Przybyl Hugo Grimaldi Kurt Maetzig N/A
Producer	Hans Mahlich Edward Zajicek
Writer	J. Barkhauer Jan Fethke Stanislaw Lem Wolfgang Kohlhaase Günter Reisch

In a utopian future of universal peace and brotherhood--1985 to be specific--a mysterious artifact found in Siberia is discovered to be a message from Venus. While the recording is studied, an international team of scientists is rocketed off to make contact with the mysterious planet. It takes the film some time to get going (worldwide harmony makes for a beautiful future but pallid drama when everyone gets along so nicely), but things begin to cook once they land on the misty wasteland of Venus. Swarms of metal bugs hop from glassy mutant trees and bubbling black mud oozes after our astronaut heroes, but no Venusians can be found amidst the geodesic architecture and buzzing power plants. What they discover instead is a terrifying conspiracy wrapped in an anti-war parable. Based on a novel by Polish science fiction legend Stanislaw Lem (whose work also inspired Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris), this German science fiction adventure is a visual treat, from the sleek, grand, silver spaceship and a funky purple Venus landscape of alien ruins and crystalline bubbles. Decently (if prosaically) dubbed and trimmed down to a brisk 78 minutes, it's an entertaining triumph of psychedelic art direction and desolate alien weirdness presented in all its brightly colored, widescreen glory. --Sean Axmaker

Edition Details
Chapters	16
Release Date	9/19/2000
Packaging	Snap Case
Screen Ratio	2.35:1
Audio Tracks	ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Mono
Layers	Single Side, Single Layer
No. of Disks/Tapes	1

Personal Details
Purchase Date	9/19/2000
Owner	Thomas Eisenmann
Store	Best Buy
Purchase Price	$19.99
Condition	Excellent
Reviewed	Widescreen Review
Bit Rate	192 KB
Anamophic	No
Links	IMDB

Color Widescreen

Story Synopsis:
The 1962 science fiction thriller, “First Spaceship On Venus,” looks ahead to the year 1985, and the irrigation of the Gobi Desert. While dredging out the soil, a strange rock fragment was discovered and scientists determined that it was of extraterrestrial in origin. Inside the rock was a strange spool magnetically recorded with an alien language. It is determined that is a message from Venus regarding the radiation and destruction of Earth, so an ethnically diverse team of scientists and astronauts set out for the mysterious planet. Based on the book “The Astronauts” by Stanislaw Lem, this movie is a complete giggle-fest, and it is strongly recommended that it be viewed as a double feature with another science fiction camp classic, “Dinosaurus!”

DVD Picture:
This is not a DVD that you will be using to show off with. The non-anamorphic 2.35:1 DVD picture exhibits unimpressive quality. It is riddled with huge source element artifacts, print scratches, and film grain. The smeared images are wanting in sharpness and detail, with all but the close-up shots appearing out of focus. The color scheme is at times fairly vibrant and well balanced-the only redeeming quality of the picture-but appears dated and smeared throughout. Occasional aliasing problems are apparent, as well as edge enhancement and pixelization.

Soundtrack:
The Dolby® Digital 1.0 soundtrack is noticeably muffed in terms of sonic character. Distortion is prevalent throughout. The dialogue features voices with reasonable clarity, but the original sound’s poor recording quality limits their effectiveness in sounding natural.