Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Bezenby Folks on the IMDb love this one. It's Kubrick-esque, they say. For it's time, the special effects are amazing, they say. I say I watched it over the course over two nights and even though I was sure it was nearly finished at the end of night one, I was dismayed to find out tonight that I had almost the entire film to sit through! For those asking, I have to split up films due to my demanding job of murdering blue bottles trapped in people's sheds in my local allotment. They pay me in runner beans.Folks on a multi-cultural, united Earth discover an object that seems to have some sort of recording from the planet Venus that ends up in the Gobi Desert via the Tunguska Explosion. Curious, they gather together a crew of many nations (something they got right, says I, from the racially tolerant world of 2017) and head off for Venus. This takes an awfully long time, even with all the exciting bits where a human plays a robot at chess, but eventually they do make it to Venus.Not much there makes sense, but at least our actors stand around for ages talking about every strange occurrence that happens, like when this guy's buggy explodes and he falls into a hall full of bouncing metal insects, or when someone else kicks a rock into some black mud which not only causes the black mud to chase them, but also happens to turn a huge golf ball shaped object red. You heard me.Yeah, the effects are good and the sets are good and the robot looks like something that would probably last about ten seconds on Robot Wars, but there's a huge amount of nothing happening in this film. I know it kind of ends up being the point of the film, but I was seriously on the verge of nap time during most of this film's duration. Next!

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Der schweigende Stern" or "First Spaceship on Venus" 8and there are several other German and English titles for this one) is an East German movie from 1960. It had its 55th anniversary last year. The original film runs for 90 minutes, but the English dubbed version only goes on for 80 minutes. The English title is already a good indicator what this film is about, namely the exploration of space, especially of the planet Venus. The film is based on a novel and the director here is Kurt Maetzig and he is also one of the several writers who adapted the original work by Stanislaw Lem. Maetzig lived until 2012 and became over 100 years old. There are a handful of somewhat known science-fiction films from (East) Germany that are still known very well today despite being from the 1960s or 1970s. The most significant thing is maybe the cultural diversity of the cast. There's Caucasian actors, Asian actors, Black actors... as if this was Star Trek. I cannot say I am familiar with any of the cast members though.All in all, I found this a really generic science-fiction film. Mystery Science Theatre 3000 made this a lot more famous than it has any right to be with their unfunny and ignorant spoofing. Anyway, back to this one here. It's always surprising to see so many writers work on a film and then it becomes so mediocre and forgettable. Yes there was a trashy scene here and there and it felt pretty bizarre how the movie still took itself so seriously, but all in all I thought this was not a very interesting or even entertaining watch. Maybe it is worth checking out for the biggest SciFi fans who have seen almost everything else from the genre, but I cannot say that I would recommend checking this one out. Not even the visual side is really convincing, so four stars are still pretty generous. Better stay away.

dlee2012 Der schweigende Stern (First Spaceship on Venus) is a superb science fiction film produced behind the Iron Curtain at the height of the Cold War. Fortunately, communist ideology does not feature prominently in the film though, no doubt, the producers were keen to create something that would rival - and exceed - the Hollywood films of the era. In this, they succeeded.With a screenplay written by no less a science fiction luminary than the great Polish author, Stanislaw Lem, the film is relatively realistic in its depiction of space flight, giving it a grittiness that the frequently camp offerings from the United States all too often lack.The set of the rocket ship's interior feels far more realistic than the garishly-painted plywood sets that would feature in Star Trek in just a few years' time.Likewise, the rocket's exterior model is strikingly stylised, giving it a unique appearance.The early realism gives way to a kind of surrealist feel when the ship lands on Venus. Special effects are used to good effect to create an atmospheric, thoroughly alien world of mists and sink-holes.In contrast to Lem's later Solyaris, the alien culture encountered here is comprehensible to humans. A paradox is presented in that the alien artifacts indicate that they were significantly more advanced on a scientific level, yet still retain the aggressive, warlike tendencies that the humans in this utopian tale have left behind.Indeed, the film follows the well-worn but still valid path of warning that our moral development has not kept pace with our scientific achievements. Here, the Venusians, intent on invading Earth, have unwittingly inflicted a nuclear apocalypse upon themselves.The cry for peace and nuclear disarmament gives this film its timeless appeal. Also of interest is the fact that the rocket from earth consists of an international crew working in harmony. Again, this predates the ideas in Star Trek by several years and there seems to be a greater emphasis on true egalitarianism in this film: there is no American captain lording it over his crew, which did so much to undermine Trek's message. Unfortunately, despite these good intentions, much more character development is needed as one feels little sympathy for the crew. They are all largely interchangeable characters.Unfortunately, the film does have weaknesses, both technical and in terms of plotting. The film stock is of poor quality, the camera work quite static and some of the acting is wooden. There are no bravura moments from the director: it is all very workmanlike.Furthermore, some cringe-worthy moments do creep in, despite the overall feel of gritty realism. For instance, the ship's scientist gives the robot a "heart" within moments by simply plugging a few wires into the machine. The fact that the archive recordings are stored in robotic insects is never explained, nor is the gravity repulsor that pushes the rocket away from the planet at the end.Depending on one's view, the revelation that the alien mud is in fact energy that has been converted back into matter is either very clever or ludicrous.Pacing is a little problematic at times with the momentous nature of the discovery that the Tunguskan artifact is, in fact, Venusian in origin being very rushed.In summary, despite its problems, this film is far superior to virtually all Hollywood science fiction, chiefly due to its realistic portrayal of space flight, grittiness and atmosphere.Its attempt to portray a utopian future in which all nationalities can work in harmony is a heartfelt one at the height of the Cold War.Its message of peace is also timeless and means this film is as relevant today as ever.Without doubt then, this is one of the greatest science fiction films and one that is sadly overlooked in favour of lesser offerings from the West.

gavin6942 "First Spaceship on Venus", or its original (and better name) "The Silent Star"... maybe not bad for its time, and not bad with a budget that comes with an East German-Polish joint production. But even so, I just could not get through this picture.I fell asleep. Even watching the "Mystery Science Theater" version, which should have been funny, I just could not make it... I missed about ten minutes to dreaming. That is pretty bad. I was also sort of irked by the complete lack of science... sure, we maybe did not go to the moon yet, but by 1960 I think we knew quite well that Venus was not hospitable to life. So, um, yeah... terrible premise.I would still say it is okay to watch if you see it with the "Mystery Science Theater" jokes, but really, overall, I could not find a value in this film.