Max Nemtsov Like most soviet films of the period (and I watched the original version), in has no action whatsoever. The plot is stilted as statues at the People's Economy Achievements Exhibition in Moscow, and the story drags its feet to no end. It is a typical tableau vivant aimed at kicking imperialist America one more time, and at showing Russians (but mostly Ukrainians, as the film was done at the infamous Dovzhenko Studios, legendary for its spectacularly bad productions) at their best and foremost.However, this propaganda poster about how Soviets and Americans tried to prove to each other whose penis extender—pardon me, phallic symbol—is better, racing each other to Mars, of all places, is nicely illustrated with analog FX. The music is abominable, and is in place only in the scene of "space madness" of the one "bad American" they let out into space. The dialogue is absurdist and as ridiculous as the gadgetry shown. More than anything else, it reminds me of the old Chapayev joke: —Pet'ka, the apparatus. —Six, Vasily Ivanovich. —Six what? —Apparatus what? In some sense, it's just as silly as Gravity. Look how much time passed, and what has changed?Nevertheless, content-wise, the film's narrow-minded positivism and typical soviet jingoism is set off by one truly Pynchonian twist, and you can appreciate it if you read Gravity's Rainbow. The film has its own Gottfried, and there is the Gottfried glorious moment there. A-and Gottfried's name in the film is Grigory.

Red-Barracuda Battle Beyond the Sun was a sci-fi adventure that was created by Roger Corman's American International Pictures when they edited a Soviet sci-fi film into something friendly to the American drive-in. Seemingly, the Russian original was quite sober and serious-minded, while it referenced the cold war and portrayed the Soviets as fair-minded and reasonable and the Americans as underhand idiots. AIP figured that this very un-American message wouldn't translate into dollars, so they re-wrote it changing the super-powers into fictional states known as the North Hemis and the South Hemis. They also removed much of the more serious material and added some alien monsters to liven things up. What remains is that the two competing states are in a space race to be the first to land on Mars. I can't comment on the original version as I have never seen it but this version isn't too good. The story seems – perhaps unsurprisingly given its genesis – a bit muddled. It's not really helped by the fact that given this is a story about a journey to Mars; they don't actually ever get there!But perhaps the thing that stands out the most about this one is the fact that this cut was helmed by Francis Ford Coppola (under the pseudonym Thomas Colchart). In fairness, there are no signs of Coppola's massive talent here. This was clearly very much a work experience gig for him. The best aspects of the whole thing come from things from the production values of the original movie. There is decent model and set design here. But on the whole, it's a pretty lacking film.

Woodyanders As everyone already knows, Roger Corman got his hands on an ambitious Russian space opera and had a then unknown Francis Ford Coppola drastically re-edit it into a 64 minute piece of pure schlock complete with poor dubbing, cornball narration, and, most notoriously, a couple of cheesy looking monsters that hilariously resemble male and female genitalia. The sequence with these two ridiculous creatures kicks the picture over the delightfully campy goal post as these obscene things engage in a pathetic fight for a whopping two minutes. As for the rest, the special effects are quite good and convincing for their time, the sets are likewise impressive, the space rescue story manages to generate real suspense and excitement, and there are moments of striking visual splendor that neatly predate "2001: A Space Odyssey." Moreover, the central premise about two great nations fiercely competing against each other over which one will reach Mars first nicely captures the tension of the Cold War era. A fun cheapie quickie take on a foreign sci-fi feature.

jbrotychoorion Saw this long ago late one night on an old UHF (read second-rate) TV channel. Its was another attempt by a cheapo studio to make a quick buck by grafting cheap American footage onto a cheaply purchased Russian sci-fi film , and foisting it onto an unsuspecting American public, probably as the second of a double feature. The plot , which was probably drastically altered from the original Russian film, concerns a space race between two antagonistic regions on Earth, which I believe they referred to as North Hemis and South Hemis. I think the goal was mars , but (SPOILER ALERT) I don't think they make it. One side, probably the Americans in the original, attempt to make it there first in a risky effort and crash on one of Mars' moons (dont ask me which one). The other side rescues them and they all become friends, the message being one of peaceful coexistence in exploration of the stars....Most of the film is a reediting of the original Russian film, and much of that footage is interesting. The lift off and mission control scenes are well handled , and some of the space flight scenes have a 2001-like quality. There definitely was some money spent. The big American contribution is a laughable fight between monsters on the martian moon. One monster looked like a banana, and the other like a tomato. Who knows what they were thinking. Maybe it was to liven up the original film, which apparently was a straight-forward, realistic depiction of a trip to Mars, minus boogy men. All I can think is that Coppola, under the name Thomas Colchart, accepted this assignment to get his foot in the door......