Planet of Storms (1962)

Film review #737

Director: Pavel Klushantsev

SYNOPSIS: A trio of rockets have arrived in the orbit of venus, but a rogue meteor collides with one of the ships and destroys it. With their plans in array, the crew of the remaining ships decide to head down to the surface, with one person remaining behind until a new ship arrives from Earth. On the surface, the crew find all sorts of strange creatures and dangers as they explore the planet in the name of science…

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Planet of Storms is a 1962 sci-fi film from the Soviet Union. The plot concerns three rocket ships that have travelled to the planet Venus for exploration, when one of them is hit by an asteroid and explodes. The remaining two decide to head down to the surface and continue their mission rather than wait for a replacement ship to arrive, with one crewmember remaining in orbit. One thing that quickly stands out with this film is that it doesn’t feel like a typical Soviet-era sci-fi; in fact it seems to take a lot of inspiration from U.S. b-movie films, and much more than other films of the time. On top of that, it puts in considerably more effort into the b-movie setups to make something much more convincing: the film is in colour for a start, and there’s a lot of elaborate models and costumes that look very well made. It even has it’s own Rob the Robot equivalent, named John of all things, that does a lot of interesting things throughout the film.

While the film has that b-movie feel in it’s story, there’s certainly an educational element to the film too: throughout its runtime it asks a lot of questions about Venus’s climate and potential inhabitants, and we learn about them and ponder questions as viewers at the same time as the cosmonauts on the screen do. Director Pavel Klushnatsev had done a number of sci-fi education films prior to this one that explored the mysteries of space, so he brings a certain expertise and plenty of questions to the film. It perhaps seems like there is too much going on this film: it throws in nearly every sci-fi plot device and element you can think of. There’s the logistics of space travel, speculation on Venus’s climate, the role of robots, alien creatures, and even some speculation on whether the aliens are from another planet, perhaps similarly to how the Egyptian Gods could have been similar aliens. There’s a lot to think about, and because of that the plot never has much focus or overall direction on any one thing.

As I say, there’s a good amount to appreciate in this film; the sets and props are nice, from John the Robot being large and robust as he does a host of tasks, and even a floating car…thing that the crew use to explore the surface. There’s clearly a lot of effort gone into speculating on what Venus would be like to explore, and what could be there. With all that said though, there’s really not a lot of story to give things purpose, and a feeling that the film is taking on much more than it needs to. Worth watching to appreciate the effort put into the models and props, which would have been good for the time.