Cosmic Journey (Kosmicheskiy Reys: Fantasticheskaya Novella) [DVD] [1936]

Da!

This is quite impressive. For a film made so long ago, 1936 to be exact, the visual effects are amazing, even by today's standards. The image itself is very clean, with very little degradation. It is quite sharp, and shows the detail of the sets and models quite well, but even then they look very realistic. It is a very good story as well, and I suppose it does have some propaganda concerning the people's party, but there is no mention of conflict with the west, or any political issues whatsoever. It, to me, depicts man's constant striving to know the unknowable; to solve the mysteries around us, and to work together to do so. Social issues such as age discrimination, both old and young, and sexual discrimination are shown and dealt with in realistic ways. This is a fantastic movie, and anyone who enjoys science fiction will enjoy this movie, irregardless of its age or origin. It is in Russian, but has English subtitles.

OK, but other sci-fi movies, such as "Things to Come" are much better. Do be advised that this is, for all intents and purposes, a silent film

A classic in many respects, with excellent special effects for the time (vastly superior to the American "Flash Gordon" and "Buck Rogers" space operas of the same era), and well grounded in science, this film actually proved to be somewhat prophetic. There must have been some inspiration from Fritz Lang's "Woman In the Moon" (1929), with several similar plot elements, including an attractive woman as part of the crew (K. Moskalenko even resembles Gerda Maurus, but this could be coincidental), there is a young boy who stows away on both ships, and there is a crisis involving loss of breathable oxygen, which threatens the return trip. There are also some differences...the earlier German movie has the possibility of gold on the moon as the reason for the voyage, while the Russian film views space simply as something which should be explored. The German film posits the existence of a breathable atmosphere on the Moon, while the Russians find a frosty remnant of the Moon's atmosphere in the form of snow in some locations, eerily prescient of the water ices actually detected near the Moon's poles by orbiting lunar satellites since the 1990's. The Russians land on "the dark side of the Moon", however, this should not be interpreted as "the side of the Moon not facing the Earth", since Earth is clearly visible from their landing site. Since the Moon orbits the Earth roughly every 29 days, at one time or another, all sides of the Moon receive sunlight, and also all sides are at some times in darkness. The Russians land when the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun, on the side which is facing Earth, hence "the dark side" not facing the Sun. One interesting feature of the rocket was individual chambers for each crew member, in which they were immersed in a fluid to protect themselves from the strong g-forces during launch. Although no one has ever used this method, it does demonstrate that the Russians were aware of the problem, and proposed a solution. The model buildings of the hanger, and the spaceship itself, are impressively detailed. Some of the footage of the cosmonauts leaping about under low gravity on the lunar surface is actually stop-motion animation, and pretty well done, at least as comparable to the footage in the original "King Kong" (1933) or for that matter, the "Gumby" TV show of the 1950's. When the ship eventually returns to Earth, they parachute down for a landing on the ground, just as later Russian spacecraft actually did, and not splashing down into the ocean like the Americans did. The film is, oddly, silent, surprising for 1936, although Charlie Chaplin made "Modern Times" as a silent film that same year. There is a stirring musical soundtrack, but dialogue between the characters is by means of the usual title cards. Taken as a whole, the film is entertaining, and scientifically accurate based on what was known at the time. The run time is only 65 minutes, so viewers also receive as a bonus the 1902 Georges Melies short film "A Trip To The Moon", in which French astronauts are shot out of a huge cannon and have a fanciful adventure on the Moon. This film also features what may be the first "flight attendant", a pretty girl in shorts who holds the ladder for the boarding party prior to their departure. Additionally, the disc includes episode 8 of the Flash Gordon serial, with laughably poor special effects, and costumes resembling Robin Hood's band. I enjoyed "Cosmic Journey", and would recommend it to those who are fans of early science fiction.

If you are a die-hard old Sci-Fi lover, then this is probably a must. Much of the special effects in this 1935 film are well done, and the walk-around view of the docked space ships is simply unsurpassed by any older movie I have seen. Then again, some of the special effects are simply not well done or are silly. The "walk-around" is worth the money all by itself. And, believe it or not, the silent film's actors do a pretty good job making it seem real and purposeful.

I've seen 'Cosmic Journey' a couple of times before. This was the Best Print of it That I've seen yet. I really appreciate getting the ability to see this Russian Sci-Fi Gem looking so good.

Excellent film! I truly enjoyed this DVD. An extraordinary film for its age, the Soviets had films just as exciting and great as the hollywood classics. This film deserves to be listed among the great classics of historical films. The special effects are outstanding for the time period.

A very cleverly made Russian film depicting a trip to the moon. A bit dated but still remarkably prescient considering it's age.