ALL SCI-FI

Bud Brewster · Last edited by Bud Brewster on Wed Dec 22, 2021 7:55 pm; edited 4 times in total

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Come on, guys! Let's go to Venus!
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The recent discussion about 20 Million Miles to Earth, and the way fillmmakers' make imaginative efforts to populate that hellish world with interesting alien lifeforms, made me wonder just how many movie have denied the fact that life just doesn't exist there.

I found eight movies that either told serious stories about Venusian lifeforms or humorous yarns which ignored both science and realism. Very Happy

Buckle up, boys!

We're blasting off for Earth's sister world!
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Hollywood kicked off the invasion of Venus in 1953 with a wacky comedy in which the famed comedy team of Bud and Lou take a wrong turn in space . . . and don't even arrive on the planet the title of movie claims they're headed for! Shocked

Abbott and Costello Go to Mars has a great rocket, nice special effects, and a Venusian population composed entirely of lovely beauty contest participants!

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Model maker Brent Gair's great rendition of the rocket.

_______ Abbott and Costello - Go To Mars trailer

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It was four years before movie audiences got another taste of Venus again, but in this case it was a "take-out order", with a lovely rocket which delivered a Venusian inhabitant right to our doorstep!

20 Million Miles to Earth brought the Ymir to movie screens and dazzled audiences with the stop motion of Ray Harryhausen! Cool

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In this tragic tale about a stranger in a strange land, the poor Ymir battles an angry elephant, hides underwater for hours in the Tiber River, is threatened by soldiers with flame throwers, climbs the Colosseum, and falls to his death in true King Kong fashion!

_____________ 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

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By 1959 poor Venus was back to being a place used to tell comedic tales of hapless astronauts who just wanted to go home! Sad

Moe, Larry, and Joe boldly go where no Stooge has gone before. The met a talking unicorn, ride in Venusian Cadillac, and are captured by an evil, multi-armed robot.

This was not exactly science fiction's finest hour . . .
Rolling Eyes

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____ The Three Stooges in Have Rocket Will Travel

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The other voyage to Venus which Hollywood offered in 1959 was only slightly more serious . . . but it was decidedly more scenic!

Zsa Zsa Gabor leads a bevy of Venusian beauties in a revolt to overthrow The Queen of Outer Space!

This CinemaScope epic offered a rocket borrowed from Flight to Mars, costumes borrowed from Forbidden Planet, an oversized stuffed spider from World Without End, and a hero borrowed from Conquest of Space! Laughing

Science definitely took a back seat to eye candy in this space opera — and the trailer is a real hoot! Laughing

_____________ Trailer | Queen Of Outer Space

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But in 1960 Venus was rescued from its ignoble fate as the planet where funny things happened when a remarkable East German/Polish film was released. It was known in America as First Spaceship on Venus, and it had impressive sets, well-designed props, and spectacular special effects!

And the rocket is both beautiful and unique!

_________ First Spaceship On Venus trailer (1960)

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In 1962 the Russians made an intelligent and well-done movie called Planeta Bur — which translates into Planet of Storms.

The movie features a fine story, terrific space suits, a futuristic floating car, and a very macho robot!

The remarkable ending has a cosmonaut discover a small sculpture of a lovely woman's face, and it proves what the crew suspected — that there's a hidden civilization on Venus!

This concept mirrors my post on All Sci-Fi which describes hidden alien civilizations in our solar system who don't trust mankind and have prevented us from knowing about them!

The sculpture shown below has always remind me of the famous Face on Mars — which is ironic in view of the fact that the cosmonauts in the movie actually theorize that Venus might have once been a colony of Mars! Shocked

____ Planet of Storms (vintage 1962 Soviet sci-fi)

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In 1965 we were treated to Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet. Roger Corman bought the rights to Planeta Bur and cut out enough of the original footage to splice in new scenes featuring Basil Rathbone and Faith Domergue! Shocked

Obviously it's an inferior version of the original, with the Ratherbone and Domergue scenes only detracting from the story. Rolling Eyes

Then in 1968 we got a new version of Planeta Bur from Roger Corman — this one called Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women.

Yes, it added scenes of hot blonds on Venus . . .

This adaptation was actually made by Peter Bogdanovich — who chose not to have his name credited on the film prints — and it included American-made scenes starring Mamie Van Doren and a group of blond Venusians who lay around on the rocky shore near the sea and chat with each other (using telepathy) about the invaders from Earth they've been monitoring using their awesome mental abilities.

Ummm . . . yeah, right. Rolling Eyes

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I must confess, however that I own all three versions of the Russian film. Mimi and company are quite fetching in their all-natural seashell beach wear!

Here's the Russian original with subtitles —

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— and here's the Americanized version with dubbed dialog, with aging American actors stuck in —

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— and finally, here's the girly version with hot blonds in seashell halter tops.

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Gentlemen, it seems to me that a fantasy version of Venus which allows various lifeforms to exist there has provided us with even more enjoyment than that other dead planet, Mars! Shocked

Mars is considered a planet that humans can colonize, even though it's basically just like our own Moon — but much further away and with just enough atmosphere to be a pain in the ass! Shocked

Naturally, I'm not suggesting that we could colonize Venus. But as a science fiction writer, I think that Venus has contributed as much-or-more to the genre we all love that the overrated Red Planet.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Pow · Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2021 11:18 pm Post subject:

Can't say I've seen all these films about Venus.

Thanks for posting those wonderful photos, Bud.

You're right about how awesome that spaceship is from First Spaceship on Venus, marvelous design. Cool spacesuits, too.

And that robot reminds me of Tobor the Great.

Just read a report from scientists that there is little to no hope we'll discover any life on our 2nd planet from the sun.

Surface temps that melt lead, Greenhouse effect, brutal radiation. Got as much chance to find life there as you would on Mercury. Still, we got some wild movies out of our sister planet.

scotpens · Last edited by scotpens on Wed Dec 22, 2021 3:28 pm; edited 1 time in total

Bud Brewster

Krel · Guest

I've seen, and like all of them. However, I don't believe that "20,000,000 Miles To Earth" belongs on the list, as there are no scenes that take place on Venus. Otherwise you should include "It Conquered the World" with Beulah the Venusian , and it's cheap remake on the list.

A useless bit of trivia. One of the pistols in the movie is a 1893 Borchardt C-93 pistol, the pistol the Luger was made from. This is the only know appearance of this firearm in a movie, or TV.

David.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2021 7:38 pm Post subject: