{{Short description|1960 film}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox film | name = The Silent Star / First Spaceship on Venus | native_name = {{plainlist| * {{langx|de|Der schweigende Stern}}}} {{langx|pl|Milcząca Gwiazda}} | image = Derschweigendestern.jpg | alt = | caption = German theatrical release poster | director = Kurt Maetzig | screenplay = {{ubl|Kurt Maetzig|J. Barkhauer (uncredited)}} | story = {{ubl|J. Fethke|W. Kohlhasse|G. Reisch|G. Rücker|A. Stenbock-Fermor}} | based_on = {{Based on|''The Astronauts''|Stanisław Lem}} | starring = {{ubl|Günther Simon|Julius Ongewe|Yoko Tani}} | music = Andrzej Markowski | cinematography = Joachim Hasler | editing = Lena Neumann | studio = {{plainlist| * Roter Kreis group of DEFA<ref name="fp" /> * Filmowe Iluzjon film studio }} | distributor = {{plainlist| * Progress Film {{small|(East Germany)}} * Crown International Pictures {{small|(US)}} }} | released = {{Film date|df=y|1960|02|26|East Germany|1960|03|07|Poland|1962|10|31|United States}} | runtime = {{plainlist| * 95 minutes (uncut) <ref>[https://ecommerce.umass.edu/defa/film/3603 "The Silent Star (Der schweigende Stern)"], DEFA Film Library</ref> * 79 minutes<!--Theatrical run time: 78:47--><ref>{{cite web|title=''FIRST SPACESHIP ON VENUS'' (U)|url=http://www.bbfc.co.uk/AFF034567/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130419194605/http://www.bbfc.co.uk/AFF034567/|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 April 2013|work=British Board of Film Classification|date=1963-01-23|access-date=2012-11-14}}</ref> {{small|(English dub)}} }} | country = {{ubl|East Germany|Poland}} | language = German | budget = | gross = 4,375,094 tickets<ref name="DEFA" /> }} '''''Der schweigende Stern''''' (literal English translation '''''The Silent Star''''') is a 1960 East German/Polish color science fiction film based on the 1951 science fiction novel ''The Astronauts'' by Polish science fiction writer Stanisław Lem. In Poland, the film was known as '''''Milcząca Gwiazda''''' (which translates as ''The Silent Star''). The film was directed by Kurt Maetzig, and stars Günther Simon, Julius Ongewe, and Yoko Tani. It was first released in February 1960 by Progress Film in East Germany, running 95 min.<ref>"The Silent Star (Der schweigende Stern)", DEFA Film Library</ref><ref>Bill Warren, Keep Watching The Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the 1950s, Vol. 2, 1958-1962 (New York: McFarland & Co, 1986), pg. 741.</ref><ref name="defad">[http://www.defa-stiftung.de/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=412&FilmID=Q6UJ9A002KN7 An entry about ''Der schweigende Stern'' and DEFA film database] (retrieved 27 October 2018)</ref> It was released in the US on 31 October 1962 retitled '''''First Spaceship on Venus'''''<ref>Bill Warren, Keep Watching The Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the 1950s, Vol. 2, 1958-1962 (New York: McFarland & Co, 1986), pg 741.</ref>.
After finding an ancient, long-buried flight recorder that originally came from a spaceship, apparently from Venus, a human spaceship is dispatched to the Morning star. The crew discovers a long-dead Venusian civilization that had constructed a device intended to destroy all life on Earth prior to invasion. Before they could execute their plan, they perished in a global nuclear war.
==Plot== In 1985, engineers involved in an industrial project to irrigate the Gobi Desert accidentally unearth a mysterious and apparently artificial "spool". When found to be made of a material unknown on Earth, the spool is circumstantially linked to the Tunguska explosion of 1908. The spool is seized on as evidence that the explosion, originally blamed on a meteor, was actually caused by an alien spaceship.
Professor Harringway deduces the craft must have come from Venus. The spool itself is determined to be a flight recorder and is partially decoded by an international team of scientists led by Professor Sikarna and Dr. Tschen Yü. When radio greetings sent to Venus go unanswered, Harringway announces that a journey to Venus is the only alternative. The recently completed Soviet spaceship ''Kosmoskrator'', intended to voyage to Mars, is now redirected to Venus, a 30-to-31-day journey. During the voyage, Sikarna works diligently to translate the alien message using the spaceship's computer.
When their spaceship nears Venus, radio interference from the planet cuts the crew off from Earth. By then, Sikarna's efforts lead to a stunning discovery: The spool describes a Venusian plan to irradiate the Earth's surface, with the extermination of mankind being the prelude to their invasion. Rather than containing a "cosmic document", as had been expected, the spool bears a cold-blooded message of destruction. With this new information the crew decides to transmit this information to Earth, believing that the information would be of service to mankind. Harringway, however, convinces the crew to press on towards Venus rather than return to Earth with revelations that could panic mankind, leading to unknown consequences.
With the ship's robot, Omega, German astronaut Brinkman pilots a one-man landing craft through the Venusian atmosphere. On the surface, he comes upon an industrial complex and finds small information storage devices that look like insects. Brinkmann's landing craft is destroyed in an explosion when it accidentally lands on high-tension power lines. The rest of the crew lands ''Kosmoskrator'' to investigate the explosion. The crew splits up, some staying near ''Kosmoskrator'' to study the storage devices. The others follow the power line to try and find the Venusians, but they find no life forms. Instead, they discover a large golf ball-like structure that Arsenjew suggests may be a giant transformer or a force-field generator. Following the power lines in the other direction, they find the remains of a deserted and blasted city centered around a huge crater. There are clear signs of a catastrophic explosion so intense that the shadowy forms of the humanoid Venusians are permanently burned onto the walls of the surviving structures.
The Venusians are gone, but their machines remain functioning, including the radiation-bombardment machine intended for use against the Earth. One of the scientists accidentally triggers the weapon, leading to a frantic effort by the team to disarm it. Tschen Yü lowers Talua, the ship's communication officer, into the Venusian command center. When Tschen Yü's spacesuit is punctured, Brinkmann ventures out to save him. Before he can reach Yü, Talua succeeds in reversing the weapon. Unfortunately, this also reverses Venus' gravitational field, flinging ''Kosmoskrator'' out into space. Brinkmann is also repelled off-planet, beyond the reach of the spaceship to save him, while Talua and Tschen Yü remain marooned on the devastated Venus. The surviving crew members must return to Earth, where they warn humanity about the dangers of atomic weapons.
==Cast== * Günther Simon as Raimund Brinkmann (Robert Brinkman in the US release), the ''Kosmokrator's'' German pilot * Julius Ongewe as Talua, the African communications officer * Yoko Tani as Dr. Sumiko Ogimura, the Japanese medical officer * Oldřich Lukeš as Professor Hawling, a US nuclear physicist (Orloff in the US release) * Ignacy Machowski as Professor Sołtyk (Durand, a French engineer, in the US release), the Polish chief engineer * Mikhail Postnikov as Professor Arsenjew, Soviet astrophysicist and commander of the mission (Harringway in the US release) * {{ill|Kurt Rackelmann|de}} as Professor Sikarna, an Indian mathematician * Tang Hua-Ta as Dr. Tschen Yü (Chen Yu in the US release), a Chinese linguist. * Lucyna Winnicka as Joan Moran, television reporter * Eduard von Winterstein as a nuclear physicist * Ruth Maria Kubitschek as Professor Arsenjew's wife * Eva-Maria Hagen as a journalist
{{anchor|Ongewe}}Julius Ongewe was a medical student in Leipzig from Nigeria or Kenya. He was the first black actor to be portrayed travelling in space.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170512180155/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/557363/First-Spaceship-on-Venus/#articles-reviews?articleId=143740 Turner Classic Movies]</ref>{{Better source needed|date=July 2024}}
Despite a diverse cast, gender and racial attitudes are not much different than in American science fiction films of that era, with Ogimura being framed as delicate because she is a woman and in the caretaking position of ship nurse, while Talua fills a "service-oriented" crew position (which is opposite to central role of Black pilot Robert Smith in the novel).<ref name="DVD Savant Review">[https://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s1708star.html DVD Savant Review]</ref>
==Production== The story is based on the 1951 science fiction novel ''The Astronauts'' by Stanisław Lem. Lem was approached by Kurt Maetzig from DEFA with an idea to make a film adaptation of Lem's novel, possibly because Lem was widely known in Poland and abroad at the time.<ref name=fop>{{Cite web|title=MILCZĄCA GWIAZDA (1959). Adaptacja pierwszej powieści Stanisława Lema|url=https://film.org.pl/r/milczaca-gwiazda-1959-adaptacja-pierwszej-powiesci-stanislawa-lema-118612/|date=2017-08-31|website=Film.org.pl|access-date=2020-05-01|archive-date=17 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617185114/https://film.org.pl/r/milczaca-gwiazda-1959-adaptacja-pierwszej-powiesci-stanislawa-lema-118612/|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''The Astronauts'' was likely chosen due to the recent advancements in rocket technology and the popularity of space travel in science fiction. The story also expressed many socialist ideals,<ref name=":0" /> appropriate for the state-owned studio.
The DEFA director Herbert Volkmann, responsible for finance, as well as other officials of the GDR, were strict with the project: they had ideological concerns about the script, and new writers were brought in to work on it. Eventually, twelve different versions of the script were created.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Der schweigende Stern|url=http://www.astronalpha.de/filme/der-schweigende-stern/|website=Astron Alpha - Science-Fiction-Besprechungen|language=de-DE|access-date=2020-05-01}}</ref>
In the film's original East German and Polish release, the Earth spaceship sent to Venus is named ''Kosmokrator''.
The film was shot mostly in East Germany.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Allan, SeDn |author2=Sandford, John | year=1999 | title=DEFA: East German cinema, 1946–1992 | publisher=Berghahn Books | isbn=978-1-57181-943-7 | page=80 }}</ref> The outdoors scenes were shot in the area of Zakopane, Poland and the airfield of Berlin-Johannisthal and special effects in Babelsberg Studio and in a studio in Wrocław, Poland. The spaceship mock-up at the airfield became the subject of a hoax in the newspaper ''Der Kurier'': the front page presented the spaceship as a failed attempt at spaceflight in the Soviet occupation zone.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-42625855.html | title=RAUMFAHRT - Die Ost-Venusier | work=Der Spiegel | date=24 June 1959 | accessdate=2017-09-22}}</ref>
The film was noted for early extensive usage of "electronic sounds" on its soundtrack. Electronic music and noises illustrated the work of the computer that deciphers the alien message, the message itself, and the eerie landscape of Venus devastated by the nuclear catastrophe. Markowski, who produced the musical score, was assisted by sound engineer Krzysztof Szlifirski from the Experimental Studio of Polish Radio, with some sound effects added at the laboratory of the Military Academy of Technology in Warsaw and with post-production at DEFA.<ref>''Off the Planet: Music, Sound and Science Fiction Cinema'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=louaDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 p.11]</ref>
Ernst Kunstmann was in charge of special effects.<ref name=defaumass/>
==Release== It was the first science fiction film released by Poland<ref name=fop/> and East Germany.<ref name=defaumass/> When first released to European cinemas, the film sold about 4.3 million tickets,<ref name="DEFA">[http://www.insidekino.de/DJahr/DDRAlltimeDeutsch.htm List of the 50 highest-grossing DEFA films.]</ref> making it one of the 30 most successful DEFA films.<ref name=":0" />
In 1962, the shortened, 79-minute English-dubbed release from Crown International Pictures changed the title to ''First Spaceship on Venus'' for the English-speaking market.<ref name="DVD Savant Review"/> The film was released theatrically in the U.S. on 31 October 1962.<ref>Warren, Bill. Keep Watching The Skies, Vol II: 1958–1962. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1986. ISBN 978-0-89950-032-4. pg. 741.</ref> During its theatrical run, it played as a double feature with the re-edited, Americanized version of the 1958 Japanese Kaiju film ''Varan the Unbelievable''. <ref>Warren, Bill. Keep Watching The Skies, Vol II: 1958–1962. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1986. ISBN 978-0-89950-032-4. pg. 741.</ref>
===Critical response=== In a retrospective on Soviet science fiction film, British director Alex Cox compared ''The Silent Star'' to the Japanese film ''The Mysterians'', but called the former "more complex and morally ambiguous".<ref name="Cox 2011">{{cite web|first1=Alex|last1=Cox|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/30/russian-science-fiction-sci-fi-films-bfi|title=Rockets from Russia: great Eastern Bloc science-fiction films|work=The Guardian|date=30 June 2011|access-date=22 August 2016}}</ref> Cox also remarked that ''Silent Star''{{'}}s images of melted cities and crystallised forests, overhung by swirling clouds of gas, are masterpieces of production design. The scene in which three cosmonauts are menaced halfway up a miniature Tower of Babel by an encroaching sea of sludge may not entirely convince, but it is still a heck of a thing to see".<ref name="Cox 2011" />
Stanislaw Lem, whose novel the film was based upon, was extremely critical of the adaptation and even wanted his name removed from the credits in protest against the extra politicization of the storyline when compared to his original.<ref name="fp">[http://www.filmpolski.pl/fp/index.php?film=122252 MILCZĄCA GWIAZDA], ''filmpolski.pl'' (Retrieved 2017-09-22)</ref> (Lem: "It practically delivered speeches about the struggle for peace. Trashy screenplay was painted; tar was bubbling, which would not scare even a child".)<ref>[http://www.stopklatka.pl/artykuly/artykul.asp?wi=13044 "Filmowe światy Stanisława Lema"], citing Lem's interview from the book ''Thus Spoke... Lem'' ([https://web.archive.org/web/20030402114619/http://www.stopklatka.pl/artykuly/artykul.asp?wi=13044&sekcja=3 Wayback Machine archive of the relevant section])</ref>
===Awards=== *1964: Festival of Utopian Films, Triest (Utopisches Filmfestival Triest): "Golden Spaceship Award" ("Das goldene Raumschiff")<ref name="defad" />
==Other releases== ===United States=== In 1962 the shortened 79-minute dubbed release from Crown International Pictures adopted the title ''First Spaceship on Venus'' for the English-speaking market.<ref name="DVD Savant Review"/> The film was released theatrically in the U.S. as a double feature with the re-edited version of the 1958 Japanese Kaiju film ''Varan the Unbelievable''. All references to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima were edited out. The American character Hawling became a Russian named Orloff. The Russian character Arsenjew became the American Herringway, while the Polish character Soltyk became the Frenchman Durand. The spacecraft used for the journey was referred to and spelled as ''Cosmostrator''.
Two differently cut and dubbed versions of the film were also shown on the American market at the time, ''Spaceship Venus Does Not Reply'' and ''Planet of the Dead''.<ref>''Off the Planet: Music, Sound and Science Fiction Cinema'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=louaDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 p. 27]</ref>
The original, uncut version of the film (at 95 minutes)<ref>[https://ecommerce.umass.edu/defa/film/3603 "The Silent Star (Der schweigende Stern)"], DEFA Film Library</ref> was finally released in the U.S. in 2004 under its original title ''The Silent Star'' by the DEFA Film Library of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.<ref name=defaumass>{{cite web|title=DEFA Film Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst|url=http://www.umass.edu/defa/silentstar.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015144702/http://www.umass.edu/defa/silentstar.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 October 2012|access-date=22 May 2011}}</ref> In 2007, the film was shown on the horror hosted television series ''Cinema Insomnia''.<ref name="Cinema Insomnia">{{cite web |url=http://www.cinemainsomnia.com/show.php#episode |title=Cinema Insomnia |publisher=Cinema Insomnia |access-date=20 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328140102/http://www.cinemainsomnia.com/show.php#episode |archive-date=28 March 2010 }}</ref> Apprehensive Films later released the ''Cinema Insomnia'' episode on DVD.<ref name="First Spaceship on Venus DVD">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecrippledmasters.com/cifirstspaceshipdvd.html |title=First Spaceship on Venus DVD |publisher=Apprehensive Films |access-date=20 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716230703/http://www.thecrippledmasters.com/cifirstspaceshipdvd.html |archive-date=16 July 2011 }}</ref>
===Mystery Science Theater=== Under the name ''First Spaceship on Venus'', the movie was featured in episode #211 of ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'', first airing on Comedy Central on 29 December 1990.<ref>[https://www.mst3kinfo.com/?p=9545 Episode guide: 211- First Spaceship On Venus.] Satellite News. Retrieved on 2025-10-23.</ref> Series writer Mary Jo Pehl marveled at the ethnically and gender-diverse cast, although she admitted that didn't make her care about the fate of the characters. Writer / performer Kevin Murphy said the episode's subpar host segments were a result of the cast and crew going on vacation after the episode was completed.<ref name="auto">{{cite book|author=Beaulieu, Trace|display-authors=etal|title=The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide|date=1996|publisher=Bantam Books|location=New York|isbn=9780553377835|page=28|edition=1st}}</ref>
Writer Jim Vorel ranked the episode as one of the series' worst, ranking it #172 out of 197 MST3K episodes from the first twelve seasons. Still, Vorel writes the episode isn't "terrible"; it "simply fl[ies] under the radar." ''First Spaceship on Venus'', in Vorel's opinion, is "a rather dry (but pleasantly colorful and silly-looking) sci-fi story," with "painfully dorky looking costumes" in a "cheap, spacefaring sci-fi picture."<ref>[https://www.pastemagazine.com/comedy/best-mst3k-episodes/ranking-every-mst3k-episode-from-worst-to-best Ranking Every MST3K Episode, From Worst to Best.] Vorel, Jim. Paste Magazine. 4 December 2018. Retrieved on 2025-10-23.</ref>
Shout! Factory released the episode on 18 November 2008, as part of the ''MST3K'': 20th Anniversary Edition DVD set. The set also included three other episodes: ''Future War'' (episode #1004), ''Laserblast'' (episode (#706), and ''Werewolf'' (episode #904).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://shoutfactory.com/products/mst3k-20th-anniversary-edition-standard-edition|title=MST3K: 20th Anniversary Edition [Standard Edition]|access-date=22 October 2025|publisher=Shout Factory}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
===Bibliography=== * Ciesla, Burghard: "Droht der Menschheit Vernichtung? Der schweigende Stern – First Spaceship on Venus: Ein Vergleich". (''Apropos Film''. Bertz, Berlin 2002: 121–136. {{ISBN|978-3-929470-23-9}}) * Kruschel, Karsten: "Leim für die Venus. Der Science-Fiction-Film in der DDR." (''Das Science Fiction Jahr 2007'' ed. Sascha Mamczak and Wolfgang Jeschke. Heyne Verlag, 2007: 803–888. {{ISBN|978-3-453-52261-9}}.) * Warren, Bill. ''Keep Watching The Skies, Vol II: 1958–1962''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1986. {{ISBN|978-0-89950-032-4}}.
==External links== * {{Internet Archive film|id=the_first_spaceship_on_venus|name=First Spaceship on Venus (dubbed in English)}} * {{IMDb title|0053250|First Spaceship on Venus}} * {{rotten-tomatoes|first_spaceship_on_venus|First Spaceship on Venus}} * [https://watch.shout-tv.com/video/602950?showInterstitial=true Said Mystery Science Theater 3000 Episode on ShoutFactoryTV]
{{Lem}} {{Kurt Maetzig}} {{GDR cinema}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silent Star}} Category:1960 films Category:German science fiction films Category:Polish science fiction films Category:East German films Category:1960 German-language films Category:Films based on works by Stanisław Lem Category:Space adventure films Category:Films about astronauts Category:Films about alien invasions Category:Venus in film Category:Films set in the 1980s Category:Films set in New York City Category:Films set in Russia Category:Films set in the future Category:Films shot in Germany Category:Films shot in Poland Category:Crown International Pictures films Category:Films based on Polish novels Category:East Germany–Poland relations Category:Films set in 1985 Category:Films about nuclear war and weapons Category:Films set in Mongolia Category:1960 German films Category:Tunguska event Category:1960 science fiction films Category:German-language science fiction films