THE SILENT STAR
Homage to Yuri Gagarin
A team of researchers discovers a message from Venus in a cosmic inductor, but all attempts to contact the planet fall flat. Accompanied by great euphoria, an expedition into outer space is launched, though soon the Earthlings manage to decipher the communiqué: it seems an attack on Earth is in the works. Oops. The expedition reaches its destination, but Venus turns out to be a radioactive Moloch. Based on Stanisław Lem's novel "The Astronauts", this sly sci-fi film was DEFA's first co-production with Poland. The crew here is decidedly international, and space travel is treated with the proper philosophical heft, as a task where all boundaries are transcended.
DER SCHWEIGENDE STERN / DER SCHWEIGENDE STERN
GDR, POL 1959 / 90 min
Language: German
Director: Kurt Maetzig
- Screenplay: Jan Fethke, Alexander Graf Stenbock-Fermor, Wolfgang Kohlhaase, Günter Rücker, Günter Reisch, Kurt Maetzig
- Cinematographer: Joachim Hasler
- Editor: Lena Neumann
- Music: Andrzej Markowski
- Sound: Günter Witt, Kurt Eppers, Günther Witt
- Cast: Yoko Tani, Oldřich Lukeš, Ignacy Machowski, Julius Ongewe, Michail N. Postnikow, Kurt Rackelmann, Günther Simon, Hua-Ta Tang, Lucyna Winnicka, Omani Mensah
- Production Company: DEFA Studio, Film Polski
- Rights Holder: Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen
A team of researchers discovers a message from Venus in a cosmic inductor, but all attempts to contact the planet fall flat. Accompanied by great euphoria, an expedition into outer space is launched, though soon the Earthlings manage to decipher the communiqué: it seems an attack on Earth is in the works. Oops. The expedition reaches its destination, but Venus turns out to be a radioactive Moloch. Based on Stanisław Lem's novel "The Astronauts", this sly sci-fi film was DEFA's first co-production with Poland. The crew here is decidedly international, and space travel is treated with the proper philosophical heft, as a task where all boundaries are transcended.
- Screenplay: Jan Fethke, Alexander Graf Stenbock-Fermor, Wolfgang Kohlhaase, Günter Rücker, Günter Reisch, Kurt Maetzig
- Cinematographer: Joachim Hasler
- Editor: Lena Neumann
- Music: Andrzej Markowski
- Sound: Günter Witt, Kurt Eppers, Günther Witt
- Cast: Yoko Tani, Oldřich Lukeš, Ignacy Machowski, Julius Ongewe, Michail N. Postnikow, Kurt Rackelmann, Günther Simon, Hua-Ta Tang, Lucyna Winnicka, Omani Mensah
- Production Company: DEFA Studio, Film Polski
- Rights Holder: Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen