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Aelita (Revolt of the Robots) (Aelita: Queen of Mars) (1924) - Yakov Protazanov
Runtime: 100 min (video version) | Soviet Union:120 min
Language: Dubbed in English (Original Language is Russian)
Country: Soviet Union
Color: Black and White
This is called the first Soviet science fiction film because of its "futuristic" sets on Mars, although most of it takes place in Moscow. The movie is set at the beginning of the NEP (New Economic Policy) in December, 1921. A mysterious radio message is beamed around the world, and among the engineers who receive it are Los, the hero, and his colleague Spiridonov. Los is an individualist dreamer. Aelita is the daughter of Tuskub, the ruler of a totalitarian state on Mars in which the working classe are put into cold storage when they are not needed. With a telescope, Aelita is able to watch Los. As if by telepathy, Los obsesses about being watched by her. After some hugger-mugger involving the murder of his wife and a pursuing detective, Los takes the identity of Spiridonov and builds a spaceship. With the revolutionary Gusev, he travels to Mars, but the Earthlings and Aelita are thrown into prison by the dictator. Gusev and Los begin a proletarian uprising, and Aelita offers to lead the revolution, but she then establishes her own totalitarian regime. Los is shocked by this development and attempts to stop Aelita, and then reality and fantasy become confused, and Los discovers what has really happened. (...)
(...) This imaginative, visually striking 1924 Soviet space epic has been revived in several fests and museums is now reviewed for the record.
Seriocomic tale involves an inventor (Nikolai Tseretelli), a soldier (Nikolai Batalov) and a police informant (Igor Illinski), who take the first journey to Mars. The adaptation of a play by Alexei Tolstoy is most notable for its production design, particularly the sets and costumes for the Martian sequences. Designers were alumni of the Kamerny Theater, known for its modernist productions.
First half of film focuses on the Earth story, as the inventor becomes jealous of the attentions being paid to his wife by a disreputable type who has moved into his building. He kills her in a fit of rage and then, with police in hot pursuit, he lifts off for Mars.
Meanwhile, his actions have been viewed by Aelita (Yulia Solntseva), queen of the Martians. She is bored with her dull -- and chaste -- life among Martian aristocrats and wishes to learn earthly passions, especially those involving kissing. The Red Planet is ripe for revolution. The rulers hold the workers in contempt and have even started putting excess laborers into cold storage until they are needed.
Costumes must be seen to be believed, including Aelita's handband and her assistant's pants, both of which look like complicated television antennas. Elaborate Martian sets prefigure the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials of the next decade, with stylized design suggesting much more than actually appears on screen.
Print, supplied by the Walker Arts Center, runs 85 minutes, although sci-fi film histories report an original running time of two hours. Pic was also known as "Aelita: The Revolt of the Robots."
Visuals hold up nicely, as do the performances, with only Igor Illinski's overeager police worker playing broadly.
While "Aelita" doesn't surpass Fritz Lang's 1926 classic "Metropolis," it is a major early achievement in futuristic cinema, and deserves the renewed interest.
Director: Yakov Protazanov
Cast:
Yuliya Solntseva ... Queen Aelita
Igor Ilyinsky ... Kravtsov, amateur sleuth)
Nikolai Tsereteli ... Los & Spiridinov, 2 engineers
Nikolai Batalov ... Gusev, ex-soldier
Vera Orlova ... Masha, nurse, Gusev's fiancee
Valentina Kuindzhi ... Natasha Los (as Vera Kuindzhi)
Pavel Pol ... Ehrlich
Konstantin Eggert ... Tuskub, King of Mars
Yuri Zavadsky ... Gor, guardian of the energy
Aleksandra Peregonets ... Ihoshka, Aelita's maidservant maid of mars
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