The Silent Star 05/24/25

Aka Der schweigende Stern.  East Germany’s interplanetary Sci-fi epic is finally remastered to Blu-ray quality, with original stereophonic soundtracks. What we once knew as the re-edited First Spaceship on Venus is now 14 minutes longer and laden with ponderous anti-American sermonizing. The sleek spaceship Kosmokrator is a marvel of design, and technical tricks pioneered for Metropolis turn images of the blasted surface of the planet Venus into a vision of Hell. Yoko Tani is the ship’s doctor in the international crew… the Reds even allow a Yank on board, while dissing America’s deplorable atomic aggression. It’s one feature in the four-title disc set  Strange New Worlds: Science Fiction at DEFA. On Region B Blu-ray from Eureka!
05/24/25