Aelita: Queen of Mars Movie Review

Now we know how Mars became the Red planet. The title has the stench of turkey about it, but wait; this silent is golden. Director Yakov Protazanov's influential epic concerns a Moscow engineer who, while awake, builds the new Russia, but asleep, dreams of life on Mars and the Martian queen, Aelita. In a machine of his own invention, he blasts off for Mars, where he eventually instigates a revolution amongst the imprisoned Martian slaves. A fascinating curio, with impressive split-screen photography and cubist sets. Based on the novel by Alexi Tolstoi. This Kino on Video edition contains a piano score. AKA: Aelita; Aelita: The Revolt of the Robots.

1924 113m/B RU Yulia Solntseva, Igor Illinski, Nikolai Batalov, Nikolai Tseretelli, Vera Orlova; D: Yakov Protazanov; W: Fedor Ozep, Aleksey Fajko; C: Yuri Zhelyabuzhsky, Emil Schoenemann. VHS, LV KIV, FCT, SNC