Image source: Internet Archive (archive.org)
AELITA: QUEEN OF MARS (original version).
Sci Fi, silent sci fi, Fantasy, Russian sci fi, Propaganda, Mars
This film is in the public domain. The copyright notice in the opening credits refers to a musical background track which has been removed. This is the original, unedited, full-length version which predates "Metropolis" by three years. FROM IMDB: 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. Directed by Yakov Protazanov Released in 1924 complete print, runtime 111.5 minutes a.k.a. "Revolt of the Robots" and "Aelita" (original title)
Aelita (), also known as Aelita: Queen of Mars, is a silent film directed by Soviet Union filmmaker Yakov Protazanov made at the Gorky Film Studio and released in 1924 in film. It was based on Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy's Aelita (novel). Mikhail Zharov and Igor Ilyinsky were cast in leading roles.
Though the main focus of the story is the daily lives of a small group of people during the post-war Soviet Union, the enduring importance of the film comes from its early science fiction elements. It primarily tells of a young man, Los (, literally Elk), traveling to Mars in a rocket ship, where he leads a popular uprising against the ruling group of Elders, with the support of Queen Aelita who has fallen in love with him after watching him through a telescope.
Image:Aelita screenshot.jpg
One of the earliest full-length films about Interplanetary travel, the most notable part of the film remains its remarkable Constructivism (art) Martian sets and costumes designed by Aleksandra Ekster. Their influence can be seen in a number of later films, including the Flash Gordon (serial) and probably Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927 movie) and Woman in the Moon.
Parts of the plot were loosely adapted for the 1951 film Flight to Mars (film).
While very popular at first, the film later fell out of favor with the Soviet government and was thus very difficult to see until after the Cold War.
DVD release
The 2004 DVD from Ruscico runs 104 min. and has a musical score based on the music of Alexander Scriabin, Igor Stravinsky, and Alexander Glazunov.
List of films featuring surveillance
Category:Films about extraterrestrial life
Category:Films based on science fiction novels
Category:Films directed by Yakov Protazanov
Category:Films set in the 1920s
Category:Films set in Moscow
Category:Gorky Film Studio films
Category:Mars in film
Category:Planetary romances
Category:Pre-1950 science fiction films
Category:Soviet films
Category:Soviet science fiction films
Category:Soviet silent films
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