Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965)

User Rating:

3.0/10   

Director:

Curtis Harrington

Writer:

Curtis Harrington (written by)

Release Date:

1 August 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Plot:

In 2020, after the colonization of the moon, the spaceships Vega, Sirius and Capella are launched from...

Plot Keywords:

Venus | Robot | 2020s | Public Domain | Volcano Eruption

Cast

Basil Rathbone	...	Prof. Hartman, Lunar 7
Faith Domergue	...	Dr. Marsha Evans, Vega
John Bix	...	John the Robot
Gennadi Vernov	...	Andre Ferneau, Sirius (archive footage) (as Robert Chantal)
Georgi Zhzhyonov	...	Hans Walters, Sirius (archive footage) (as Kurt Boden)

Also Known As:

Prehistoric Planet
Voyage to a Prehistoric Planet

Runtime:

78 min | USA:74 min

Country:

USA | Soviet Union

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Company:

Roger Corman Productions

Trivia:

Originally made in the Soviet Union as "Planeta Bur (Planet of Storms)".

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: The year: 2020. The Moon has been explored and colonized and the next space goal is about to be reached - the first landing by on the planet Venus. Scientists profoundly hope that life, similar to that on Earth, may be found on this planet where so many physical conditions are like our own. Three rocket ships of an international expedition - the Sirius, Vega and Capella, after having successfully traveled 200 million miles are in the final stages of their journey...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Star Dreamer (2002)

Visually excellent, entertaining, and campy sci-fi adventure

Before you view this film, you should read some of the comments on it here on IMDb. Most of the film is lifted from Planeta Burg, a Soviet sci-fi film made around 1960 by none other than legendary American workhorse B film-maker Roger Corman. Corman added Faith Domergue and Basil Rathbone and some poorly dubbed English, but, thankfully, left the plot, soundtrack, visuals and most of the dialog intact. What's enjoyable about this film is the original film included within it.

The story line is pretty simple. A manned space flight to Venus encounters many unforeseen challenges, including a great diversity of life forms, including, possibly, intelligent beings. Braving the elements of this tectonically unstable planet, an unbreathable atmosphere and dangerous creatures are several cosmonauts and a powerful and intelligent robotic android (somewhat derivative of Robbie the Robot).

This is a nice piece of mid-twentieth century pulp sci-fi. While it doesn't carry the weight of many of its contemporaries - such as The Day the Earth Stood Still, or Forbidden Planet, etc - it's enjoyable for its clever low budget visual effects, eerie atmospherics, and inventive technological ideas. Great film for sci-fi buffs and film history fans.