No space monsters, no death rays, no strange alien beings. Perhaps I've been conditioned by too many cheesy sci-fi and horror films of the 1950/60's era, but "First Spaceship on Venus" is simply so boring that it overrides the few inventive elements that it otherwise contains.
There is one humorous idea though that stands out. Filmed in 1960, the story takes place in the way distant future of 1985, when an extraterrestrial "spool" is discovered in the Gobi Desert area of Siberia. Voice-over narration states that a connection has been made between the alien artifact and a meteor explosion that took place there in 1908, some seventy eight years earlier. On the spaceflight to Venus in the Cosmostrater 1, world renowned scientists have made a breakthrough regarding the spool's information - the Venusians have targeted Earth for conquest and intend to decimate the planet's population. Frantic to warn Earth, the scientists are frustrated in their inability to break through space interference to get their warning heard. Now in thinking about this, and piecing together information from the film that places the Earth to Venus trip at about thirty one days, my question would be - "What's the rush?" The communication is almost eighty years old, wouldn't they have gotten around to it by now?
The reason the Venusians haven't gotten around to it is because their own advanced technology had already done them in. Landing on Venus, the exploratory force runs into nothing more ominous than metallic "insects" and black lava-like attacking ooze, but nothing else! Though the astronauts have set a destruct sequence into effect, they quickly find a counter measure that reverses it. One almost begs for a big goofy alien like the one from "The Phantom Planet" to appear to lighten things up a bit.
On the flip side, the movie assembles an impressive, though no name international cast, including Asians, a black, a Russian and a German. Seven men and one woman from the scientific community form the astronaut team, though why Sumiko is given a bright red jumpsuit to wear instead of the same color as the men is intriguing. She's also portrayed as the most human of the team, suggesting a heart for the robot that continuously beats Professor Orloff at chess.
I guess my main problem with the film is that it takes itself way too seriously. The constant narration in the first half of the film seems to neglect the players instead of letting them move the story along through their own interaction. With no comic relief to counteract the monotony, I found myself wanting this one to be over quick, which it was at a seventy nine minute run time, but it seemed much longer.
There is one humorous idea though that stands out. Filmed in 1960, the story takes place in the way distant future of 1985, when an extraterrestrial "spool" is discovered in the Gobi Desert area of Siberia. Voice-over narration states that a connection has been made between the alien artifact and a meteor explosion that took place there in 1908, some seventy eight years earlier. On the spaceflight to Venus in the Cosmostrater 1, world renowned scientists have made a breakthrough regarding the spool's information - the Venusians have targeted Earth for conquest and intend to decimate the planet's population. Frantic to warn Earth, the scientists are frustrated in their inability to break through space interference to get their warning heard. Now in thinking about this, and piecing together information from the film that places the Earth to Venus trip at about thirty one days, my question would be - "What's the rush?" The communication is almost eighty years old, wouldn't they have gotten around to it by now?
The reason the Venusians haven't gotten around to it is because their own advanced technology had already done them in. Landing on Venus, the exploratory force runs into nothing more ominous than metallic "insects" and black lava-like attacking ooze, but nothing else! Though the astronauts have set a destruct sequence into effect, they quickly find a counter measure that reverses it. One almost begs for a big goofy alien like the one from "The Phantom Planet" to appear to lighten things up a bit.
On the flip side, the movie assembles an impressive, though no name international cast, including Asians, a black, a Russian and a German. Seven men and one woman from the scientific community form the astronaut team, though why Sumiko is given a bright red jumpsuit to wear instead of the same color as the men is intriguing. She's also portrayed as the most human of the team, suggesting a heart for the robot that continuously beats Professor Orloff at chess.
I guess my main problem with the film is that it takes itself way too seriously. The constant narration in the first half of the film seems to neglect the players instead of letting them move the story along through their own interaction. With no comic relief to counteract the monotony, I found myself wanting this one to be over quick, which it was at a seventy nine minute run time, but it seemed much longer.