Aelita - Queen of Mars

Starring:Yuliya Solntseva, Igor Ilyinsky, Nikolai Tsereteli, Nikolai Batalov, Vera Orlova (II), Valentina Kuindzhi, Pavel Pol, Konstantin Eggert, Yuri Zavadsky, Aleksandra Peregonets, Sofya Levitina, Varvara Massalitinova, Mikhail Zharov, Tamara Adelheim, Iosif Tolchanov, Vladimir Uralsky, N. Tretyakova
Director: Yakov Protazanov
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
A Soviet sensation upon its heavily publicized release in 1924, Aelita, the Queen of Mars is now a curiosity of post-revolutionary Russian silent cinema, a bit laughable in its revolutionary zeal not only on Earth but on Mars as well! Despite a cool reaction from critics, the film was such a hit with the Soviet public that many Russian babies born in '24 were named Aelita, and the Cubist designs of the Martian sets--heavily influenced by the avant-garde "constructivist" style--would in turn influence science fiction films in the years to follow (most notably the Flash Gordon serials). With costume designs performances that are truly out of this world, Aelita was the 1924 equivalent of a Spielberg spectacular; now it's a museum piece, unlikely to raise anyone's pulse, but it's startling to think that this film was even possible in 1924 Russia.

Amazon.com

A Soviet sensation upon its heavily publicized release in 1924, Aelita, the Queen of Mars is now a curiosity of post-revolutionary Russian silent cinema, a bit laughable in its revolutionary zeal not only on Earth but on Mars as well! Despite a cool reaction from critics, the film was such a hit with the Soviet public that many Russian babies born in '24 were named Aelita, and the Cubist designs of the Martian sets--heavily influenced by the avant-garde "constructivist" style--would in turn influence science fiction films in the years to follow (most notably the Flash Gordon serials). With costume designs performances that are truly out of this world, Aelita was the 1924 equivalent of a Spielberg spectacular; now it's a museum piece, unlikely to raise anyone's pulse, but it's startling to think that this film was even possible in 1924 Russia.

Description

Russia's first big budget science fiction spectacular. "Aelita, the Queen of Mars" is a fantastic adventure about Los, an engineer living in Moscow who dreams of Aelita and builds a spaceship to take him to her. They fall in love, but Los soon finds himself embroiled in a proletarian uprising to establish a Martian Union of Soviet Socialist Republics!

Customer Reviews:

This was a hot stuff in its historical period!.......2007-04-10

After leaving the hall of cinema, I asked to myself how could this movie to surmount the ideological prejudices and brutal censure, if presumably didn't count with a kind overlook by part of adverse enemies of the regime. Because the whole contain of the underneath message was terribly mordacious.

An engineer decides to design a spaceship to try to find in Mars the woman of his dreams. Until now everything s works; but when he arrives to the red planet he finds a Proletarian upraising. This film not only inspired the genial mind of Fritz Lang but since its release has been an portentous document in the history of cinema.

This smart collection of elements: danger, humor and love were the primordial factors that could stand the inquisitive scrutiny of the Big Russian Brother; the iron fist ruler, and certainly the most bloody tyrant in the XX Century.

Best for Film Historians.......2006-03-02

This is not the early silent sci-fi film to start with (that would be Metropolis) or the first classic of Russian cinema (that would be Battleship Potemkin) though it predates both of them. The science fiction elements are okay but the ordinary plot elements and the Marxist commentary weigh it down and it becomes dull after a while. Then again you must remember special effects were in their infancy and also the Soviet regime basically required that all films produced include Communist rhetoric and that plenty of science fiction films with neither constraints are also obvious, plodding and over-rated (the Star Wars prequels perhaps?). Anyway, if you have time to kill and you are in a film course and want to impress the other students with an influential film no one will have heard then this might be of interest. Or if you can see parts of it as a camp classic (the scenes on Mars obviously influenced Sins of the Fleshapoids). Otherwise there are better places to start.

Impressive Classic, surprisingly far from the book.......2005-04-07

I've read the book by Alexey Tolstoy, but I have not seen the movie until today. You'd think that in the 20's they tried to be close to the original, but not in this case - the movie is quiet a bit different from the book. Warning: spoilers ahead! Where in the book most of the action happens on Mars, in the film our hero doesn't get to the red planet until into some time the second hour of the movie. In the book Aielita dies after taking poison, Los' tastes something bitter on her lips, but it's too late. In the movie Los' kills Aelita, and then realizes that the whole shebang was a dream.

It's a good movie non-the less. The actors' play is wonderful, and many parts are funny.

The DVD doesn't have any features - just an index with shortcuts to different parts of the movie.

Mars draws parallels to Mother Russia.......2004-09-22

Aelita is a film riddled with stories of uprisings, rebellions, and communism. What is interesting about this film is that it is seen from two worlds. Hailed as the first science fiction film from Russia, it depicts the social economy in Russia during 1924, and compares it to the Martian capitalist society that is watching from the Red Planet in the sky. A radio signal from an unknown source has been sent all over the world, and while some disregard this as just a innocent jumble of messages, Los, a individualist, yet jealous engineer thinks that it is a message from Mars. He begins work on a space craft that will ultimately take him to the uncharted planet, but also ruin his personal life. On Mars, The Queen, Aelita, has discovered that some of her scientists have created a telescope that can watch the planet Earth up close. Trying not to get caught, odd because she is Queen, she sneaks a peak through the telescope and sees our favorite murderer and engineer, Los. She immediately falls in love with him and even appears in one of his dreams. When he arrives to meet her on Mars, he discovers a world not unlike his own that he was trying to escape. Riddled with similarities, Los must fight for not only for Mother Russia, but for the surrounding red planet.

For my first viewing of a silent film, I was unimpressed. I thought that it was going to show a short, simple story that would show me the techniques that Hollywood uses today. While I did see some of sci-fi's beginnings with this film, I felt that it stressed too much on the symbolic nature of these characters instead of developing a story. I will say this, the director is daring to make this film. It involves several character development, a hard task to tackle in the silent film era because it was hard to keep track of who was who. One aspect that I thought was interesting that lost itself in the translation to DVD was the music.

This was a harsh film to watch. A little over two hours, it was too much silent film for me. I found myself getting angry at the music, and a headache because I couldn't follow which character was which. I also don't know much about the history of Russia during this time, so I had trouble following why these characters were acting in this style. What I did find interesting was the turn of events in this film. I really never saw them coming. I never thought that Aelita would be such a power hog. The director was again trying to make a statement about life in Russia, but it still made me stop and make sure I was capturing the moment correctly. Had some good psychological moments tied with some great characters that no doubt came from Russian literature.

Overall, strong moments with a very weak plot made it a tough watch. I will have to give that it was a powerful film for a silent movie, but just not what I was hoping for or expecting. Check this movie out if you are a big sci-fi history buff. I think this is right in your corner, but for everyone else...I will continue to search for the best.

Grade: ** out of *****

A fascinating look at an era and style.......2004-02-22

Surprisingly watchable, for a silent film, and very well preserved. The Constructivist sets and costumes are amazing, a revolutionary art style before the later supression of expression and innovation in the Soviet Union (this film was later banned by Stalinist critics). Even the images of life on Earth, in the early days of that nation, are quite interesting.

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