Regular Price $24.99

Starring: Yuliya Solntseva,  Igor Ilyinsky,  Nikolai Tsereteli,  Nikolai Batalov,  Vera Orlova (II), 
Directed By: Yakov Protazanov, 
Rated: Unrated
Release Date: 1924
Studio: Image Entertainment
Format: Black & White,  DVD-Video,  Silent,  NTSC, 

Editorial Reviews and DVD Information about Aelita - Queen of Mars

Product Description
Russia's first big budget science fiction spectacular. "Aelita the Queen of Mars" is a fantastic adventure about Los an engineer living in Moscow who dreams of Aelita and builds a spaceship to take him to her. They fall in love but Los soon finds himself embroiled in a proletarian uprising to establish a Martian Union of Soviet Socialist Republics!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN/LATIN UPC: 014381566529 Manufacturer No: ID5665DSDVD

Amazon.com
A Soviet sensation upon its heavily publicized release in 1924, Aelita, the Queen of Mars is now a curiosity of post-revolutionary Russian silent cinema, a bit laughable in its revolutionary zeal not only on Earth but on Mars as well! Despite a cool reaction from critics, the film was such a hit with the Soviet public that many Russian babies born in '24 were named Aelita, and the Cubist designs of the Martian sets--heavily influenced by the avant-garde "constructivist" style--would in turn influence science fiction films in the years to follow (most notably the Flash Gordon serials). With costume designs performances that are truly out of this world, Aelita was the 1924 equivalent of a Spielberg spectacular; now it's a museum piece, unlikely to raise anyone's pulse, but it's startling to think that this film was even possible in 1924 Russia.

The story is almost beside the point, revolving around a married Moscow engineer who dreams of Aelita, the Queen of Mars, and is obsessed with building a spaceship that will take him to her. An alleged murder, passionate jealousy, and a bumbling detective are all part of the film's portrait of hardscrabble post-revolutionary lifestyle, but they pale in comparison to the intermittent scenes on Mars, which peak with the engineer's ultimate arrival and the eruption of a Martian slave rebellion! It's pure propaganda, but agreeably light and remarkably revealing of its time and place. Anyone expecting a Soviet Metropolis will be disappointed, but if you're fascinated by imaginative films from the silent era, Aelita is must-see viewing. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews for Aelita - Queen of Mars

Described as one of the first science fiction productions, Aelita is a silent film that is one part science and one part communi
While Aelita is considered one of the first science fiction films, the story focuses on the daily lives of several people after the Russian Revolution and is more of a propaganda film of sorts. The story revolves around a young scientist Los (Nikolai Tsereteli) and his wife Natasha (Valentina Kuindzhi) who symbolizes the new Russia. Each works hard in their respective government jobs although Natasha appears to see more of the hunger, homelessness and fear in the aftermath of the war. The characters of Ehrlich (Pavel Pol) and Yelena (N. Tretyakova)are diametrically opposed to the main characters and characterize the old bourgeoisie Russia, clinging to wealth even if they have to steal it from the "common man". The "good communist", common man is represented by the Red Army soldier Gussev (Nikolai Batalov)who is recovering from his wounds in a local hospital making the most of things and often portrayed singing with a guitar in hand and a smile on his face.

While Los seems happy in his life reconstructing Russia, he dreams of visiting Mars and has long been assembling plans for a spaceship. Through his daydreams the audience is introduced to life on Mars where the working class is enslaved by a monarchy ruled by the King of Mars, Tuskub(Konstantin Eggert). His Queen, Aelita(Yuliya Solntseva), is unhappy with him keeping secrets from her, the biggest of which is a new telescope that allows the King to view distant life. With the help of the energy guardian, Gor(Yuri Zavadsky), Aeilta gains access to the telescope and begins to fall in love with Los and his way of life.

When Los receives a cryptic message at the station where he works, it forces him to move up his plans for space travel. As with most tales of alien expeditions, Los and his fellow travelers are in for more than they bargained for when they arrive on Mars. Aelita convinces Los and the others to help her in creating a slave uprising (perhaps the most propagandist element of the film in forming the Socialist Republics of Mars). But all is not as it seems and Aelita hides a secret that Los could never imagine.

The sets and cinematography are cutting edge for their time as well as the mere idea of Mars travel. The only negative aspect of the film is that it seems somewhat disjointed at times and the cut scenes are more to what is happening rather than actual dialogue as in later silent films. Also, the musical score on the DVD is not as good as in some other films making it somewhat tedious to watch. Sifting through the communist components of the script may be difficult at times but Aelita is a must see for sci-fi film enthusiasts.
Aelita - Queen of Mars

This was a hot stuff in its historical period!

After leaving the hall of cinema, I asked to myself how could this movie to surmount the ideological prejudices and brutal censure, if presumably didn't count with a kind overlook by part of adverse enemies of the regime. Because the whole contain of the underneath message was terribly mordacious.

An engineer decides to design a spaceship to try to find in Mars the woman of his dreams. Until now everything s works; but when he arrives to the red planet he finds a Proletarian upraising. This film not only inspired the genial mind of Fritz Lang but since its release has been an portentous document in the history of cinema.

This smart collection of elements: danger, humor and love were the primordial factors that could stand the inquisitive scrutiny of the Big Russian Brother; the iron fist ruler, and certainly the most bloody tyrant in the XX Century.

Aelita - Queen of Mars

Best for Film Historians
This is not the early silent sci-fi film to start with (that would be Metropolis) or the first classic of Russian cinema (that would be Battleship Potemkin) though it predates both of them. The science fiction elements are okay but the ordinary plot elements and the Marxist commentary weigh it down and it becomes dull after a while. Then again you must remember special effects were in their infancy and also the Soviet regime basically required that all films produced include Communist rhetoric and that plenty of science fiction films with neither constraints are also obvious, plodding and over-rated (the Star Wars prequels perhaps?). Anyway, if you have time to kill and you are in a film course and want to impress the other students with an influential film no one will have heard then this might be of interest. Or if you can see parts of it as a camp classic (the scenes on Mars obviously influenced Sins of the Fleshapoids). Otherwise there are better places to start.Aelita - Queen of Mars

Impressive Classic, surprisingly far from the book
I've read the book by Alexey Tolstoy, but I have not seen the movie until today. You'd think that in the 20's they tried to be close to the original, but not in this case - the movie is quiet a bit different from the book. Warning: spoilers ahead! Where in the book most of the action happens on Mars, in the film our hero doesn't get to the red planet until into some time the second hour of the movie. In the book Aielita dies after taking poison, Los' tastes something bitter on her lips, but it's too late. In the movie Los' kills Aelita, and then realizes that the whole shebang was a dream.

It's a good movie non-the less. The actors' play is wonderful, and many parts are funny.

The DVD doesn't have any features - just an index with shortcuts to different parts of the movie.
Aelita - Queen of Mars

Mars draws parallels to Mother Russia
Aelita is a film riddled with stories of uprisings, rebellions, and communism. What is interesting about this film is that it is seen from two worlds. Hailed as the first science fiction film from Russia, it depicts the social economy in Russia during 1924, and compares it to the Martian capitalist society that is watching from the Red Planet in the sky. A radio signal from an unknown source has been sent all over the world, and while some disregard this as just a innocent jumble of messages, Los, a individualist, yet jealous engineer thinks that it is a message from Mars. He begins work on a space craft that will ultimately take him to the uncharted planet, but also ruin his personal life. On Mars, The Queen, Aelita, has discovered that some of her scientists have created a telescope that can watch the planet Earth up close. Trying not to get caught, odd because she is Queen, she sneaks a peak through the telescope and sees our favorite murderer and engineer, Los. She immediately falls in love with him and even appears in one of his dreams. When he arrives to meet her on Mars, he discovers a world not unlike his own that he was trying to escape. Riddled with similarities, Los must fight for not only for Mother Russia, but for the surrounding red planet.

For my first viewing of a silent film, I was unimpressed. I thought that it was going to show a short, simple story that would show me the techniques that Hollywood uses today. While I did see some of sci-fi's beginnings with this film, I felt that it stressed too much on the symbolic nature of these characters instead of developing a story. I will say this, the director is daring to make this film. It involves several character development, a hard task to tackle in the silent film era because it was hard to keep track of who was who. One aspect that I thought was interesting that lost itself in the translation to DVD was the music.

This was a harsh film to watch. A little over two hours, it was too much silent film for me. I found myself getting angry at the music, and a headache because I couldn't follow which character was which. I also don't know much about the history of Russia during this time, so I had trouble following why these characters were acting in this style. What I did find interesting was the turn of events in this film. I really never saw them coming. I never thought that Aelita would be such a power hog. The director was again trying to make a statement about life in Russia, but it still made me stop and make sure I was capturing the moment correctly. Had some good psychological moments tied with some great characters that no doubt came from Russian literature.

Overall, strong moments with a very weak plot made it a tough watch. I will have to give that it was a powerful film for a silent movie, but just not what I was hoping for or expecting. Check this movie out if you are a big sci-fi history buff. I think this is right in your corner, but for everyone else...I will continue to search for the best.

Grade: ** out of *****Aelita - Queen of Mars