Aelita: Queen of Mars (1924)
Directed by Yakov Protazanov
Starring: Yuliya Solntseva, Igor Ilyinsky, Nikolai Tsereteli
Length: 111 min.
Genre: Sci-Fi / Russian
Based on Aelita by Aleksei Tolstoi (1922 Novel)
One of the first full-length science fiction movies, if not the first.
Mars is ruled by a totalitarian government. Aelita (Yuliya Solntseva), daughter of the ruler, becomes obsessed with viewing Earth when the technology to see into the lives of everyday earthlings from Mars is developed. A signal is sent and reaches Earth. Los (Nikolai Tsereteli) and his partner Spiridinov pick up the signal and start building a rocket ship to go to Mars.
While this is happening, Los' wife gets too close to a man who rents a room from them for Los' liking and his personal life becomes one filled with anger and jealousy until one night, he snaps and kills his wife. Meanwhile, Spiridinov has left so Los assumes his identity, although one amatuer sleuth, Kravtsov (Igor Ilyinsky), is onto him.
The film was actually quite good. The sets for Mars were typical "pointy" designs that are seen in most sci-fi movies (the set designer was Sergei Kozlovsky), which may mean this film was the origin of the art design for many, many sci-fi films. You could have lifted the sets off this movie and put them in any 50s and 60s sci-fi movie and you wouldn't tell the difference.
The movie was met with mixed reviews in Russia when it was released. Some didn't like that it deviated a lot from Tolstoi's novel, including Tolstoi himself. The movie was a great success, though. So much so that Aelita became a comman name for newborn girls.
Entertainment Rating: 7/10
Historical Rating: 8/10