Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet

This week’s movie was “Planeta Bur,” (“Planet of Storms”), from the Soviet Union’s Lennauchfilm in 1962. It was directed by Pavel Klushantsev from a script he co-wrote with Aleksandr Kazantsev based on Kasantsev’s novel. A trio of Soviet spaceships are launched to Venus. “Capella” is destroyed en route by a meteor collision. The “Arcturus,” a replacement spaceship, is launched but it won’t arrive for two months. The crew of the “Vega” decide to attempt a landing using a glider vehicle. “Ivan,” “Allen,” and a robot named “John” descend while the female cosmonaut “Masha” remains in orbit. When the glider crashes the crew of the “Sirius” decide to land and attempt a rescue. “Ilya,” “Roman,” and “Aloysha” climb into a hovercar and cross the surface of Venus searching for their comrades. They encounter carnivorous plants, hostile dinosaurs, and erupting volcanoes before they succeed.

This movie is a lot of fun! The special effects work is well-executed and Klushantsev keeps the energy going as the cast encounter one danger after another on this hostile alien world.

American producer Roger Corman, (1926-2024), bought the film from the Soviets to adapt it for American audiences. He assigned young director Curtis Harrington to the project, which he completed using the pseudonym “John Sebastian.” Harrington left the film largely intact except for dubbing it into English. Corman acquired the services of actor Basil Rathbone and actress Faith Domergue, (both of whom were in career slumps), and Harrington integrated them into the film. Rathbone’s scenes were all inserts in which he communicated with the explorers in television transmissions from a moon base. Harrington cut out all the scenes starring Russian actress Kyunna Ignatova as “Masha,” and duplicated the footage using Faith Domergue in her place.

This week’s other movie was “Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet” from 1965. This picture had no theatrical release, but was syndicated directly to television by AIP.

Sensing a further opportunity to make use of the footage from “Planeta Bur,” Roger Corman assigned young director Peter Bogdanovich to create another movie, which he did using the pseudonym “Derek Thomas.” Corman got access to actress Mamie Van Doren, who was in a career slump. Doren and several other young actresses portrayed a tribe of blonde mermaids encountered by the astronauts as one further obstacle in their adventures.

This week’s final movie was “Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women” from 1968. This film also had no theatrical release but was syndicated directly to television by AIP.

The talented Pavel Klushantsev also directed a wonderful documentary about the history and future possibilities of space travel in 1957 called “Doroga k Zvezdam,” (“The Road to the Stars”). Both this film and “Planeta Bur” are well worth seeing.