Battle Beyond the Sun

Roger Corman, (1926-2024), was very impressed with the production designs and special effects work that he saw in several Soviet science fiction films. These movies benefited from sizable government subsidies. Corman decided to buy three of these Soviet films so that he could cannibalize the effects work and incorporate it into films of his own. This was a business decision rather than an artistic commitment, but the end results are fascinating!

This week’s movie was “Nebo Zovyot,” (“The Sky Calls”), from Dovshenko Film Studios in 1959, directed by Mikhail Karyukov and Aleksandr Kozyr from a script Karyukov co-wrote with Aleksei Sazonov and Yevgeni Pomeshchikov. At an orbiting Soviet space station preparations are being made to launch the spaceship “Rodina” to make the first landing on Mars. The American spaceship “Typhoon” launches on an identical mission at the same time, but it malfunctions during the flight. The Soviets change course to rescue the endangered astronauts, but this means they won’t have the fuel to reach the Red Planet. The “Rodina” and the crew of cosmonauts and rescued astronauts land on the asteroid “Icarus” to wait for the spaceship “Meteor,” which will bring enough fuel for the “Rodina” to return to Earth. This is a straightforward and very enjoyable adventure film, with fine miniature work.

Roger Corman assigned a young director named “Francis Ford Coppola” to transform this into a feature film suitable for American drive-in audiences. Coppola adopted the pseudonym “Thomas Colchart” for this project. Most of the picture was unchanged, except for being dubbed into English. There were, however, two major changes. All references to the United States and to the Soviet Union were eliminated. Instead the story takes place in 1997 following a nuclear war. The world is now divided into the “South Hemis” and the “North Hemis.” The South spaceship “Mercury” rescues the crew of the North spaceship “Typhoon.”Then they land on the asteroid “Angkor.” It is here that the other major change takes place. The space travelers encounter two enormous monsters, (portrayed by puppets created in Coppola’s kitchen). One monster is shaped like a giant penis, and it is eaten by one shaped like a giant toothed vagina! (And no, I am not making any of this up.)

This week’s other movie was “Battle Beyond the Sun” from AIP in 1962. The alterations introduced to the film by Coppola do not improve the picture, but they do add a level of weirdness that is truly unforgettable. Corman’s overall investment in this movie was so small that a profit was all but guaranteed. He promptly assigned another director to work on the next Soviet film.