Viaje al planeta prehistórico (1965) Online

This is a Roger Corman re-working of the Russian film PLANETA BURG (PLANET OF STORMS) which I saw at a science fiction convention around 1970 - in Russian, with no subtitles! This version has neatly edited in scenes featuring American stars to replace two of the Russians and dubbed the voices of the remaining Russian actors - this is a mixed blessing, since the dialogue is often contorted so as to match their lip movements, making for some banal conversations on the way to Venus. Once you get used to that, there are some interesting bits, including a great robot, a nifty flying car and an ending that retains some of the poetry of the original space epic. It's of interest mostly as a curiosity - and one day I'd like to see a subtitled version of the Russian original!

"Voyage to a Prehistoric Planet" should be excruciating, but miraculously it's a pretty fun flick - provided you're into the B movie thing (and if you aren't, why on earth are you looking this "masterpiece" up?)

First, a little historical note. Although the American version of the film features the great Basil Rathbourne and that monotonous beauty Faith Domergue, these two thesps were in fact added in to the original footage in order to increase its appeal for a U.S. audience (the movie is actually Russian - or maybe Swedish). They aren't supposed to be there, and you can sorta tell, since they never get involved in the action. Sadly, they end up dragging the movie down, since all they do is communicate with each other by radio, slowing the action to a crawl with lots of pointless dialogue like, "I hope everybody's okay down there on Venus. Keep your fingers crossed..."

Now for the rest. Just about every scene in the movie falls into one of three categories:

(1) Tedious (2) Silly Fun (3) Genuinely Interesting

For #1, you've got lots of milling around in quarries and spaceship sets. For #2, you've got cool rubber monsters and the world's lamest aircar, which waddles along slower than your granny could hobble. For #3, you've got some cool cryptic references to the Venusian civilization, which pretty much remains a mystery for the entire film. I was particularly impressed by the single, indistinct, mysterious shot of the native aliens, and by the carving hidden in a hunk of rock. Too bad the whole movie doesn't deal with tracking down clues about the alien civilization, but alas, it's mostly concerned with techno-talk and survivalism.

Overall - quite good, if you're in the right company.

The first of two modified versions of a well-done Russian movie, filmed in 1962 under the title "Planeta Burg" ("Planet of Storms") by the Leningrad Studio of Popular Science Films. No kidding.

The original story involves a manned landing on Venus, during which a group of cosmonauts and their seven-foot robot get separated from their comrades while exploring. The designs of both the robot and the astronauts' spacesuits are very impressive. Ditto for the land cruiser the cosmonauts use; it's a floating car that resembles those wonderful "cars of the future" which Detroit produced during the 1950s. In one scene the robot carries the cosmonauts on its shoulders across a lava flow.

Venusian life forms include a few non-animated dinosaurs, but they aren't very threatening other than an attack on the floating car by an ungainly flying reptile. The plot is pretty sedate and actionless, but the dialogue is intelligent. After finding evidence of a low-level civilization, the astronauts speculate on the possibility that Martians tried to colonize Venus but somehow slipped back into more primitive state! Cool idea . . .

In 1965 Roger Corman bought the rights to the film, added some scenes with Faith Domergue ("This Island Earth") and Basil Rathbone, and then released it in America as "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet".

In 1968 he took out the former additions, added more footage, and released it again as "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women". In this third version, Mamie Van Doren and several other well-endowed beauties lay around on rocks by the ocean and make thoughtful faces while they have a telepathic debate concerning the "alien invaders" from Earth. The girls worship a dead pterodactyl until the end of the film, then they pull the wrecked robot from the ocean and start worshipping it instead (proof positive that a blond is a blond, regardless of what planet she's from).

The cosmonauts and the girls never come face to face -- which is no surprise, of course, since their scenes were filmed six years apart on two separate continents. Mamie's scenes were directed by Peter Bogdanovich under the pseudonym Derek Thomas!

I saw this movie expecting a complete joke of a science fiction movie and I was surprised at how entertaining it really was. Don't get me wrong, its really hokey, but there are qualities to the film that are kind of impressive. The movie delivers where other movies of the same genre would be too cheap to even try. This movie is filled with prehistoric type monsters, some of which are well animated. The ferocious, tentacled plant that attacks the astronaught at the beginning of the film is very well done.

And the space travel effects at the beginning of the film are suprizingly clean. The enviornment of the planet itself is done convincingly with dressed up terrain and excessive fog. But the real topper to this movie is its GREAT robot! I was really impressed. For the time this movie was made, that robot was very well done. Very cleverly designed, that is for sure. To me, the robot made the movie worth seeing. The flying car was pretty neat, too. And they have lots of scenes with the car that must have been fairly complicated to get. In watching the movie it is apparant that the makers of the film must have put in a lot of effort. I especially liked the design of the space suites. If you want a classic sci fi flick, with the cosmonaughts exploring a hostile alien world and battling plenty of monsters, then this is the movie for you. If you watch it, I hope you are as surprised as I was.

Before you view this film, you should read some of the comments on it here on IMDb. Most of the film is lifted from Planeta Burg, a Soviet sci-fi film made around 1960 by none other than legendary American workhorse B film-maker Roger Corman. Corman added Faith Domergue and Basil Rathbone and some poorly dubbed English, but, thankfully, left the plot, soundtrack, visuals and most of the dialog intact. What's enjoyable about this film is the original film included within it.

The story line is pretty simple. A manned space flight to Venus encounters many unforeseen challenges, including a great diversity of life forms, including, possibly, intelligent beings. Braving the elements of this tectonically unstable planet, an unbreathable atmosphere and dangerous creatures are several cosmonauts and a powerful and intelligent robotic android (somewhat derivative of Robbie the Robot).

This is a nice piece of mid-twentieth century pulp sci-fi. While it doesn't carry the weight of many of its contemporaries - such as The Day the Earth Stood Still, or Forbidden Planet, etc - it's enjoyable for its clever low budget visual effects, eerie atmospherics, and inventive technological ideas. Great film for sci-fi buffs and film history fans.

i watched this as a kid when it was shown almost every sat and Sunday night on wor TV channel 9 and thought it was kind of cool.there's a big clunky robot that talks in electronic monotones,rubbery dinosaurs,a big flying reptile and hints of an alien race hiding in the shadows,roger corman bought this film from the Russians when it was called planeta berg(planet of storms)inserted American scenes with basil rathbone and faith domerge and retitled it,and used the leftover footage for two other movies;planet of blood and voyage to the planet of prehistoric women(that features a busty Mamie van doren in a seashell bra)anyway its not bad,the dubbing is really poor,some of the special effects are pretty good for its time,i did like the hovercraft ship thy used.this DVD is very easy to find in sets or even for a dollar.avoid the sinister cinema print its too fuzzy.its not the best sci fi but its not the worst.its science fiction from the 1960's compliments of Russia and roger corman.6 out of 10.

I'm of the opinion that film is powerful, powerful enough that large segments of our imagination is guided by cinematic relationships. That even the nature of reasoning is affected, even as deeply as how we reinvent practical logic. There are lots of examples to show and arguments to be made -- they are in a collection I am incubating.

Science fiction is a special case, at once more obvious. Not all as subtle as what I study. But surely it had as profound an effect on daily lives.

To understand this film, you need to know some history. Alas, many readers will not appreciate the cold war that was the overriding impetus for the two largest political entities from the 50s through the 80s.

Some dates for you. In 56, the US saw "Forbidden Planet," with a superintelligent robot, space travel and mind augmentation. It was based on Shakespeare's most interesting play and is still among the best scifi films.

In 57, Russia launched a satellite and declared that they "owned" space (and would put nuclear bombs over the US ready to "drop"). Also, that soon, they would have men in space.

In 58 one of the most successful Russian filmmakers (Klushantsev) made a film about "cosmonauts" and space travel that was enormously successful with the Russian public (and their captive peoples). That film was the beginning of a deeper than usual partnership between Klushantsev and the propaganda arm of the Kremlin.

In 1960, an unknown in East Germany made a film (Road to the Stars) about cosmonauts on Venus. It was a runaway hit. In the following year, Kennedy made his famous pledge to put an American on the moon by the end of the decade.

The Soviet moon program had some catastrophic disasters, in large part resulting from lies told to the old Stalin regime by Soviet scientists working on ballistic missiles supposedly (but not really) capable of destroying the US. Khrushchev had these scientists destroyed or imprisoned. That meant no moon program.

But the people already were convinced that Venus was the prize, so the space propagandists seized on this and retooled their manned program as a race to Venus, forget the moon. As a consequence, Klushantsev was given a (for the times and conditions) vast budget and told to make a film of the heroic Soviet nation exploring Venus. This he did in the 62 "Planet of Tempests," known in the US as "Planet of Storms."

The effects developed by this team would be used in strange circumstances for the next 8 years. This crew filmed fake footage of real spaceflights. The Kremlin was never so bold as to fake a success when everyone knew the missions ended in fiery death. But they did decorate their successes with these true-fake movies. The most famous was the 65 spacewalk of Leonov, wonderfully believable until you wonder who is holding the camera. Oddly, the propagandists assumed that the camera eye was such a magical omnipresence that no one would ask.

Anyway, that 62 film was somehow procured by the infamous Roger Corman. He shortened it and dubbed in English. He substituted the blank female (who says in an orbital craft) with an even more blank female. One wonders why; Faith Domergue had been hot 15 years earlier but here is wallpaper. And he adds an earthside leader who radios a few times, played by the already embarrassing Basil Rathbone. Something interesting could be said about his Sherlock Holmes here.

Kubrick's 1968 2001, used many conventions from this shop, even when they went against the science of the thing. And ever since, on through "Star Wars," we have that single vision of what space SHOULD look like.

Anyway, when you see this, you are seeing all these layers. Straight fiction, political fabricated truth, the unreal as more real than the real, the persistence of cinematic imagination, and the crass, stupid exploitations of the whole thing by Hollywood.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

According to the trivia behind this movie, it was a Russian production re-dubbed for western audiences. It's a fun and pulpy romp to Venus, loaded with action, bizarre dialog and some even more strange humor. The costumes are cool and the robot is absolutely AMAZING. When they made Starship Troopers not too long ago, they should have kept the powered armor and patterned it after the robot. Instead they went for the big army look, full of extras and other silliness rather than Heinlein's original vision. Come to think of it, the other special effects in the movie are really good too. The little land speeder one of the teams cruises around in looks like it inspired George Lucas. I love watching this movie with my son, give it a shot!

It's no secret that until probes were sent to it in comparatively recent times, Venus was thought by the scientific community to be an earthlike planet. That isn't important, of course- the film version of H.G. Wells's THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON postulated the existence of a highly-organized society of intelligent, air-breathing creatures living inside the Moon, and that film was made in the mid-1960s. Hence, when viewed as pure fantasy, I'm willing to grant this movie artistic (and scientific) license.

Yes this one's primitive, but the Soviets didn't have much to work with. I enjoyed this film thanks to the sheer imagination that went into it.

And I've heard the comment before that the Command Ship pilot refers to "propellors." She doesn't. Her reference is to "propellants," i.e., rocket fuel.

I saw this as a young child on TV in the early 70's and was mesmerized by it. Lizard men, dinosaurs, robots, volcanoes...what is there not to like? A lot of the comments about this movie are really ignorant. "Looks like it was filmed in 1915"...give me a break, nobody could actually believe that. My absolute biggest peeve is movie reviewers who have no idea of historical or cultural perspective. The spaceship scenes and inserted American scenes are tedious, but I was struck by the ingenuity, heroism and selflessness of the cosmonauts on Venus' surface. They stuck by each other through thick and thin.

Because it was filmed in Russia, the Venus scenes are original. Not the same Bronson Canyon and studio bound stuff that American SF fans were tired of. The surface was a truly primeval and rugged landscape.

Robot John is a GREAT example of an SF robot. He is a clever multi-purpose tool...notice the scene where he acts as a winch...and seems to be every bit part of the adventure. His fate was truly touching, I thought.

I love the mysterious image at the end of the movie, after the astronauts have left...the image of a female form is reflected in a pool. Haunting.

Dialogue is stiff and a certain amount of corniness prevails. Well, I can say that about "Apollo 13",too. For its time and place, "Voyave to a Prehistoric Planet" was a genuinely interesting look at space exploration.

In 2020, after the colonization of the moon, the spaceships Vega, Sirius and Capella are launched from Lunar Station 7 to explore Venus under the command of Professor Hartman (Basil Rathbone), but an asteroid collides and explodes Capella. The leader ship Vega stays orbiting and sends the astronauts Kern (Georg Tejkh) and Sherman (Yuri Sarantsev) with the robot John (John Bix) to the surface of Venus, but they have problems with communication with Dr. Marsha Evans (Faith Domergue) in Vega. The Sirius lands in Venus and Commander Brendan Lockhart (Vladimir Yemelyanov), Andre Ferneau (Robert Chantal) and Hans Walter (Georgi Zhzhyonov) explore the planet and are attacked by prehistoric animals. They use a vehicle to seek Kern and Sherman while collecting samples from the planet. Meanwhile John helps the two cosmonauts to survive in the hostile land.

"Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet" is so cheesy and silly that becomes funny. The effects are awful even for a 1965 movie, and the dialogs are very poor. Maybe the director and writer wrote this story and these lines in the elementary school so ridicule they are, specially the lines spoken by scientists. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "O Planeta Pré-Histórico" ("The Prehistoric Planet")

Getting to watch this film again after a full year, I discovered that two versions of it exist on cheapo DVDs from differing companies. (The differences may have been due to time demands from TV broadcast.) I'll call them A and B.

Version B is slightly longer than A; it includes more snippets from the original Russian sci-fi film (Planet of Storms) and fewer interjections from AIP. - Basil Rathbone disappears in the final third of the film. The color is better. The ending is more melodramatic. A crucial line from A disappears from B, yet a reference to it remains - the Robot John bidding farewell to his creator, Dr. Kerns - a humanizing touch that gives us to wonder about the development of the Robot as a character.

Of both versions, what must be said is they remain the only remnants Americans are likely to see of what appears to have been a fine Russian sci-fi film. The original cinematography is B-movie level, but quite good on that basis. The characters are fairly well-developed as individuals, which is surprising for a Russian film of the period. But then, the film develops along the lines of classical Romanticism, rather than the 'socialist realist' aesthetic approved in Russia at the time. The special effects are really not at all bad for the time. The story is one of discovery - of the joy of adventure that was once scientific exploration. I don't know how we lost this, considering that much of the earth's depths and all of outer space remain frontiers, but it is good to see it again, even if only in retrospect.

The low rating of this film at IMDb is senseless. Once more young viewers reveal they have little taste and no sense of history. Which means their opinions count for nothing.

When I think of science fiction films from my youth, this was always one of my favorites, mainly because of the use of the original footages from the Russian film PLANETA BURG (Planet of Storms). All in all, the editing of Marsha (Faith Domergue) into the film along with Professor Hartman (Basil Rathbone) actually adds a bit to the film. Another movie with the same stock footage (VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF THE PREHISTORIC WOMEN) fails to accomplish the pulp science-fiction feel of this film. The robot, the hover car, the spacecraft, the spacesuits, they all are wonderful visions of what we as kids in the 60's thought space would be like. It's a pity that the real Venus turned out to be so hostile to life as we know it, because I would've loved to have visited this wonderful alien world of the imagination. Of course, in a sense I have while watching the movie, and I think I'll go and watch it again. Very well done, and highly recommended.

This is the better of two English language adaptations of Planeta Burg, a Soviet movie speculating what cosmonauts might discover on a voyage to Venus. The other version (Planet of the Prehistoric Women) is absolutely laughable, with platinum blonde beach combing aliens (who were all finalists in the Miss Venus competition of 1962) wearing seashell bras wandering around.

This version, with some limited footage of American actress Faith Domergue and British actor Basil Rathbone sprinkled in, maintains the spirit of exploration from the original Russian story. The footage of these two actors is pointless, and really doesn't alter the story at all. A team of astronauts land on Venus, and a second group is sent to rescue them. On the Venusian terrain, we hear eerie wind and another mysterious haunting sound that could be a sign of life.

The movie is fun to watch, both to laugh at its problems and to join the cosmonauts in what they witness during their visit to Venus. The horrible dubbing is what I remember most from watching this movie years ago; my brother and I used to imitate the cheesy dialog. That, along with a rubber pterodactyl, dino-suit man-creatures, that lovable metal contraption, Robot John, and the hovercraft that moves at 1 mph, and you have one cool retro sci-fi excursion. I love the brownish tint to the old film which enhances the Venusian atmosphere effect.

One scene is a remarkably artistic standout, however. I'm referring to the image of a reflecting pool, a beautifully done classic shot.

Delightfully innocent and naive in its speculation, and certainly low on budget and scientific accuracy. But overall it's a fun piece of sci-fi nostalgia, good at least as a curiosity and maybe a couple of cheap laughs.

This is a really odd one! B-grade horror/exploitation movie legend Roger Corman ('A Bucket Of Blood', 'The Masque Of The Red Death', 'The Wild Angels') and writer/director Curtis Harrington (of highly thought of cult movies 'Night Tide' and 'Games') take an obscure low budget Soviet science fiction movie, re-edit it, badly dub it, and add extra footage of faded star Basil "Sherlock Holmes" Rathbone and 'This Island Earth's Faith Domergue, and come up with... well, I don't know what you call it! Let's face it, this movie's a mess, but it's a strangely entertaining cheesy mess. The story concerns a mission to Venus that goes wrong. But I must say, even with 'Voyage To The Prehistoric Planet's the hokey dinosaurs, silly lizard-men, laughably inept robot ("Robot John"), bargain basement special effects, awful dialogue, and moments of NOTHING HAPPENING, I still enjoyed it much more than Brian De Palma's dull Hollywood "blockbuster" 'Mission To Mars'!

I didn't really want this movie; it came on a double feature DVD with another movie about Venus. The only reason I got this DVD is that it came in a box with four horror movies. It was called the horror gift set so I don't know why there were two science fiction movies in the set. However, I found this one entertaining to some extent. Wasn't all that bad. The problem is that it starts slow and after the volcano scene it ends slowly. There are some rather good scenes in the middle though and I liked how they used outdoor scenes rather than sets. There are a couple of monsters here and there too to see. The plot has these three astronauts landing on Venus to find two others who apparently crashed there with their robot. It is interesting during this phase, but after they find them the movie gets really bad again as I am guessing they were just trying to pad out the rest of the film. The stuff about that gal Marsha was just really dumb. The end is just them speculating whether she landed on the planet to help or not. With a better climax this one could have been a somewhat entertaining little movie, though it couldn't have been too good as science fiction movies tend to age poorly especially when dealing with astronauts and stuff to that effect.

Beyond incredible that this film was released only four years before 2001: A SPACE ODDYSSEY. It looks like something from the 30's. Ok, so it was a Russian made "quickie" - re-formatted by Corman and interspliced with a few shots of Basil "I used to have some dignity" Rathbone. Doesn't cut any ice with me I'm afraid. Production values generally are on a par with PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE, the ship's "interiors" (and I use the term loosely) would have done little justice to a group of kindergarten littlies and the dialog? straight up 6th grade.

OK, it tried to be interesting..it failed! At the point the flying goggomobile was pursued by the cardboard winged dinosaur, I had to have a stiff drink - it was bad enough watching the rubber suited guys earlier, trying to pass themselves off as Japanese dinosaurs. Still I can't say the warnings weren't there! Picked up VTTPP on dvd last week for just $4.84...the store's security device around it would have cost more!

Many of the old sci-fi films got by on ingenuity, innovative film technique and straight up timeless brilliance - films such as METROPOLIS, THIS ISLAND EARTH, WAR OF THE WORLDS, THEM and of course, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (when ARE they going to trash THIS in an empty and pointless remake?) VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET has no right being mentioned in their collective presence

This film is about the first manned landing on Venus. The fact that Venus has a metal-crunching dense atmosphere and very toxic gases doesn't seem to matter, as once there the place isn't all that horrible. At one point, an astronaut even opens his helmet briefly with no ill effects! Their version of Venus is sort of like walking near and around the island of Hawaii with it's exotic plants and volcanoes. The physics and science behind the film are astoundingly bad, but the film is also rather kitschy and charming in a silly and old fashioned way, so it might be worth a quick look.

The pedigree surrounding this film is quite amazing and is probably more interesting than anything you'll see in this rather dull film. Originally, this was a Russian film but some "clever" American (and by 'clever', I mean 'sleazy and greedy') thought they could hack the original film apart, add some new somewhat pointless content at minimal cost and in doing so have a brand new film they could thrust on unsuspecting audiences (and that is this film). However, not wanting to give up before squeezing every last drop of blood from this mess, three years later, the original content was chopped apart again and re-edited VERY clumsily by Peter Bogdonovich (using an alias--if I were him I would have also refused to put my name on the final product). The biggest change from VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET was that all the scenes with Faith Domergue and Basil Rathbone created for the first American version were removed and lots of pointless clips of semi-naked Amazon cave-girls were very randomly inserted in VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF PREHISTORIC WOMEN--resulting in a film that is dramatically worse than PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE! If you have to watch either of these ripoff films based on the Russian original, see VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET as it actually makes some sense and at least isn't a complete waste of your time. The only downside for this earlier version is that it's no longer so unremittingly bad that you can't sit around with your friends and laugh at it! It might put you to sleep, but I doubt if you'll laugh!!

FYI--At 41 years of age, Ms. Domergue looked at least 10 years older. At first, I had trouble recognizing her.

I don't think this is the most horrible movie I've ever seen. It just never seems to get to the point. It's obvious that there is dubbing going on that makes characters make speeches rather than interacting with one another. Visually, things are pretty good, but it doesn't take long to see how stilted everything is. What a part for Faith Domergue (previously of "This Island Earth") to sit there and wait for instructions and then relay them to the planet. Venus is interesting because of the previous Russian film, the volcano scene is pretty good, although that big lumbering robot seems sort of poorly constructed. He has these huge hands instead of devices that could be used for precise work and he can barely move. The little thing at the end with the woman's face is interesting, but seems to be unresolved and rather pointless, since there was no sequel planned at the time.

I am a huge fan of B-movies, so anything I write a review for will be graded on a curve. With that being said.... As some of the other reviewers have noted, this movie was originally filmed in Russia and the dialogue was Russian. The film was re-released and dubbed in English. There is a robot called, oddly enough, John the Robot, that appears to be a proto-type for Robbie the Robot (see "Forbidden Planet). The biggest difference between the two is that John the Robot doesn't have any moving parts. Rathbone plays his typical intense self and does an admirable job, at that. His character, Professor Hartman seems to be a type of space Sherlock Holmes, so, he's right at holmes. (Oh, that was bad.) I guess the most impressive part of this movie is the special effects and sets. The interior of the ship and some shots of the ship in space are impressive for a low budget flick. Also, the shots of Venus are excellent. The down side of the film is that it was made by American International Pictures and was filmed in that horrid Pathecolor which gives it that washed out red look. I gave it a 5 out of 10, and would suggest that anybody who is a sci-fi buff have it in there collection.

This 1965 film is supposed to be looking at life in the year 2020, but actually ends up looking like it was shot in 1915. The science in this film is... anti-science... and the sets are so empty and spartan that the whole movie looks like it was shot inside a cardboard box.

This film tells the story of man's first flight to the planet Venus. It stars Basil Rathbone (briefly), who plays the role of Professor Hartman, the director of interplanetary flight operations. Ground control operations are based on the moon, and from this base station communications are conducted -- via the use of police radios -- with a small fleet (three ships) that are racing 200 million miles to the planet Venus. Yes: science is bad, since Venus's distance from the earth (depending on the two planets' orbital relationships) range between 26 and 160 million miles.

Various disasters are greeted. One spaceship is snuffed out after it gets clobbered by a meteor, and one spaceship steers off course and lands in uncharted territory. A rescue ship, orbiting the planet, is sent in to extricate the downed astronauts. Venus, it turns out, is teeming with life: prehistoric animals, swamp monsters, fish and all manner of critters. What is interesting, though, is that the astronauts' main focus seems to be on collecting rock and water samples... a pretty neat trick on a planet that has a surface temperature of about 900ºF.

Funniest Line in the Movie: There was a small amount of tension and concern when the Venus party lost contact with its orbiting command ship. When contact was finally re-established, the men asked Marsha (the command module pilot) why her orbit had changed. In response to the observation -- "But your orbit is different!" -- Marsha replies: "Well... the propellers had already started and [my orbit] changed before I could shut them off."

Ho-ho-ho. I laughed plenty of times.

this film should probably be taken more seriously than it is usually taken. it is way ahead of it's time in terms of thinking and in special effects and sci fi photography. it's robot is way advanced for that time period and even pre-dates that Val Kilmer sci fi film about the Red Planet.

this film is one of the more vivid memories from my childhood. along with the creepy finger hats from '5,000 fingers', the memory of the robot stuck in the river of lava has always been a image that made a indented impression on me. i hadn't seen the movie in over three and a half decades and was curious to see if it would still hold up. i was surprised to find out it was better than i remembered and that the outstanding horror director Curtis Harrington was involved. who would have thought since this doesn't really seem typical of Harrington's type of thing.

people who fancy themselves to be great know it alls forget that part of the art of critical sensibility is understanding something about origin and where technique started. uh, that's called history or something. everything has it. it makes for better learning if you truly try to study it. to make a better critic and to have better understanding of the truth it's good to note the origin of things and where they began and how they got started. so many people are into pointing out limitations in movies like this without ever realizing the advancements that were made in cinema at the time. in many ways even 'Forbidden Planet' feels somewhat clichéd and typical in comparison to what this movie did at the time.

as far as fun goes, this film certainly delivers. a lot of it, attacking dinos, man eating plants, bikini clad prehistoric girlies, is pure retro, kitschy fun, other things, like the hovercraft and the robot are pretty good science speculation. whatever, fact or fiction, this movie delivers interesting imagery.

don't listen to the naysayers on this one. they didn't stop to think. a lot of this movie is probably a lot more plausible than the sci fi silliness of a over blown junkie fix like 'Avatar'.

Derived from a magnificent, early 60's Soviet sci-fi about a manned trip to Venus. The models, sets, vehicles, weapons, robots, costumes, and other tech items are equal to or better than the best of its Western contemporaries in terms of imagination and realism. Co-starring Faith Domergue and Basil Rathbone - yes, Sherlock Holmes - in overdubbed scenes designed, I guess, to make you not notice that in the rest of the movie, the dubbed English audio track doesn't follow the Russian lip movements. The original Russian story does come through, of a fantastically complex world explored by men from Earth employing high tech contrivances. In fact, the quality of the engineering is so good, they must have had input from Soviet industry and/or academia. All in all, a fascinating peak into Soviet sci-fi and how Hollywood had to mask its Soviet pedigree to have it accepted by Americans.

"A spaceship orbits the planet Venus, piloted by astronaut Marcia (Faith Domergue). On the surface, two fellow astronauts and a robot companion set out on a voyage of exploration, observed from afar by Professor Hartman (Basil Rathbone). First they are attacked by prehistoric creatures, and then lose their robot in a massive volcanic eruption that consumes the planet," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

This is the first bastardization of the Russian science-fiction film "Planeta Bur" (1962). There are some good visual effects, carried over from the original movie, especially the cosmonauts' airborne planet surface vehicle. But, as astronomers knew, by the 1960s, this film doesn't really depict how a landing on earth's neighboring Venus could possibly look - if they'd have picked another Solar System, they might have had a classic.

The use of "Robot John" is one of several similarities to the TV show "Lost in Space" (also appearing in 1965), especially the fourth and fifth episodes of that series. The Robinson family's "Robot" was intended to serve the same function; and, both teams of space travelers encountered "prehistoric" monsters, misguided robot helpers, spaceship weight problems, lost civilizations, and wildly unstable planetary climate changes.

The U.S. poorly dubbed this "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet", and inserted footage featuring Basil Rathbone and Faith Domergue cheaply into the events. The idea, and actual editing, aren't totally awful, but the low budget production and lackluster performances are a real drag. In 1968, filmmakers proved they could do worse, by editing-in scantily clad young women, and re-releasing the film as "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women".

*** Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (8/1/65) Curtis Harrington, Pavel Klushantsev ~ Basil Rathbone, Faith Domergue, Vladimir Yemelyanov, Georgi Zhzhyonov

*Spoiler/plot- 1965, Voyages to the Prehistoric Planet, A spaceship orbits the planet Venus. It is piloted by female astronaut. On the surface, two fellow astronauts and their robot set out for a voyage of exploration. Back on the Moon, Professor Hartman observes the progress and supervises. The landing party is attacked by several prehistoric creatures. They also find evidence of a ancient civilization. 'John', their helpful robot is lost during a volcanic eruption while saving two crew members. *Special stars- Basil Rathbone as mission commander Professor Hartman. Roger Corman as film director. *Theme- Planet's can have civilizations, just keep looking. *Based on- Russian film, 'Planet of Storms '62 *Trivia/location/goofs- Roger Corman's retread of this Russian film by re-hashing some interesting Russian film footage. Interesting use and scenes of a robot can be enjoyed. Outstanding use of astro-car rounds out the enjoyable mechanical items of this crew's planetary exploration kit. Listen to the female astronaut, Marcia jokingly reads her lines of camera and seriously talks about the spaceship's 'propellers' needing to be warmed-up. There are no propellers to be seen on any spaceships in this film. *Emotion- Somewhat enjoyable film to watch despite the scene's plot continuity. Nice to see what the Russian cinema was producing. Production values were very respectable. The landing party crews being attacked by lizard-men and shooting back with pistols is hard to view for it's silliness.