Tumannost Andromedy

View Movie

Lang:
Sub:

Soviet Union • 1967 • 77m •

• Directed by: Yevgeni Sherstobitov. • Starring: Vija Artmane, Sergey Stolyarov, Nikolai Kryukov, Tatyana Voloshina, Lado Tskhvariashvili, Lyudmila Chursina, Nikolay Duksin, Alim Fedorinsky, Aleksandr Gaj, Valeri Gatayev, Yuri Gavrilyuk, Aleksandr Goloborodko, Vitold Janpavlis. • Music by: Yakov Lapinsky.

Humans on spaceship named "Tantra" are exploring the unknown part of the Universe. The spaceship gets trapped by the mysterious Iron Star. The Iron Star's powerful force of gravity is to hold the spaceship for 20 years. The humans are facing a very tough survival challenge, being surrounded by the invisible predators. The predators can eat human flesh right through heavy spacesuits, and some crew-members disappear. Only the light from "Tantra" can scare the predators away.

Review:

Unfortunately, I have not had a chance to see a dubbed or subtitled (in English) version of this Russian film. However, I consider "Tumannost Andromedy" ("The Andromeda Nebula") as one of the best sci-fi flicks dealing with space exploration, regardless. The plot, being very similar to another East European film, the Czech "Ikarie XB1, is about a long-duration spaceflight to a nearby star, Epsilon Tucanea [or something, like that], in the year 3000.

The spaceship interior, just like in "Ikaria", is very well-designed (there is even a swimming pool in the recreation hall], and once the astronauts land on a dark planet, the film features excellent special effects. The film's ludicrous and bombastic communist ideology should be overlooked, but the story [by A. Yefremov, who was also a planetologist by trade, so he really knew about astronomy and space] is rather intriguing. It is also nice to see the future Earth, where the air and waters are clean, and people live in harmony. (Nowadays, especially when seeing the contemporary cinema, it probably sounds rather corny - unfortunately...)

It seems, however, that this film is only the first of a planned two-part sequence ("Part 1: Prisoners of the Iron Star" [in Russian, of course] is being clearly stated at the beginning of the film), and the second part was never finished - probably because of the film's unfavourable reception. Nevertheless, I have found this film being very unique and atmospheric, even in its unfinished form and with its original language. (In used bookstores, the book ["Andromeda - A Space Age Tale"], upon which the film was based, is widely available.)

Review by Pal_Virag@telus.net from the Internet Movie Database.

Off-Site Reviews:

Dec 3 2017, 02:43

Andromeda Nebula, The Review (1967).

Release Anniversaries

Movie Database

Movies By Year: