"First Spaceship on Venus" is something as strange as a dubbed American version of a science fiction film made in the Soviet bloc, a Polish-East German co-production, to be exact. This explains the Soviet-style look of the film, the Soviet-style look of the actors (one of them reminds me of Romanian Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, although admittedly he was anti-Soviet!), and - above all - the Soviet-style message.
An international team of cosmonauts land on Venus, only to discover that the planet's civilization has destroyed itself through nuclear weapons, after a failed attempt to attack and conquer Earth. I think it's obvious that "Venus" is an allegory for NATO, while "Earth" symbolizes the Soviet Union and its satellite states. A more charitable interpretation is that "Venus" symbolizes the mad arms race. However, the fact that the Venusians want to attack Earth points to a NATO interpretation. To give the film more suspense, the machines of the Venus imperialists have survived their demise, attacking the peaceful cosmonauts.
So why only one star? Don't get me wrong, I also want peace, ha ha. No, the main problem with "First Spaceship on Venus" (or, to use its original German title, "Der schweigende Stern") is that it's so bloody boring. But sure, it feels strangely reassuring that they made B-movies even in the Eastern bloc. Perhaps there is common ground across the Berlin Walls of the future, after all...
:D
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