''Aelita'' (russian: Аэли́та, ), also known as ''Aelita: Queen of Mars'', is a 1924 Soviet silent

science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...

directed by Yakov Protazanov and produced at the Mezhrabpom-Rus film studio. It was based on Alexei Tolstoy's 1923 novel of the same name.

Nikolai Tseretelli Nikolai Mikhailovich Tseretelli (Russian: Николай Михайлович Церетелли) 1 October 1890 – 6 February 1942 was a Soviet stage and silent film actor of Uzbek origin. In 1923, the German artist Max Beckmann drew a portrai ...

and

Valentina Kuindzhi Valentina Efimovna Kuindzhi (russian: link=no, Валентина Ефимовна Куинджи; born 24 August 1884 – 6 June 1969) was a Russian and Soviet stage and film actress. Selected filmography * 1924 — ''Aelita'' * 1947 � ...

were cast in leading roles. Though the main focus of the story are the daily lives of a small group of people during the post-war Soviet Union, the film's enduring importance comes from its early sci-fi elements. It primarily tells of an engineer Mstislav Sergeyevich Los (russian: Лось) traveling to Mars in a rocket ship, where he leads a popular uprising against the ruling group of Elders, with the support of Queen Aelita who has fallen in love with him after watching him through a telescope. In its performances in the cinemas in Leningrad,

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...

played on the piano the music he provided for the film. In the United States, ''Aelita'' was edited and titled by Benjamin De Casseres for release in 1929 as ''Aelita: Revolt of the Robots''.

Plot

Moscow, 1921. A mysterious wireless message is received by various stations: its text is 'Anta Odeli Uta'. Someone facetiously suggests it has come from Mars, in order to tease Los (Nikolai Tseretelli), an engineer who is obsessed with the idea of going to Mars. This inspires him to daydream about Mars and a strange civilization there. We see Aelita (Yuliya Solntseva), the queen; Tuskub (Konstantin Eggert), the actual ruler; and Ikhoshka (Aleksandra Peregonets), Aelita's mischievous maid. They live in a society where aristocrats rule over slaves who are confined underground and put into cold storage when not required. Los's wife Natasha (Valentina Kuindzhi) is pestered by Erlikh (Pavel Pol), a bourgeois playboy before the revolution who is now a dishonest minor official. He uses his connections to steal a large amount of sugar with the intention of selling it on the black market. Los, who has seen Erlikh making up to Natasha but has not seen her rejecting him, becomes jealous. Los continues to daydream: he imagines that Aelita has access to a telescope by which she can see people on Earth and has become attracted to him. Spiridonov (Nikolai Tseretelli again), an intellectual engineer and friend of Los's, is being quietly swindled by Erlikh. He disappears; a would-be detective, Kratsov (Igor Ilyinsky) (who has been rejected by the police) suspects Spiridonov to be guilty of the theft of the sugar, because of his disappearance. Los's jealousy gets out of control and he shoots Natasha: disguising himself as Spiridonov with a wig, false beard and glasses, he goes into hiding and makes plan to escape to Mars in a rocketship he has been constructing. A friend of his, Gusev (Nikolai Batalov), an ex-soldier, agrees to go with him. They take off, not knowing at first that Kratsov has stowed away (thinking he has been following Spiridonov and not realizing he's on a spaceship). Los confuses Kratsov by removing the disguise. They land on Mars. Tuskub orders them killed, ignoring Aelita's pleas for their safety. Kratsov is taken before Tuskub and demands that the soldiers arrest the other two: he is promptly arrested. The chief astronomer comes to Aeilta and tells her where Los's ship has landed; she instructs her maid to kill him. The maid is arrested and sent to the slaves' caves - Gusev, who has taken a fancy to her, follows. Aelita and Los meet and fall in love, though Los occasionally sees her as Natasha (so do we). They are arrested and sent to the caves. Gusev tells the slaves of his own country's revolution and foments a revolt, which Aelita takes command of. Tuskub is overthrown and the army sides with Aelita - she commands them to fire on the workers and herd them back to the caves - she intends to rule Mars herself. Disgusted, Los kills Aelita (seeing her as Natasha as he does so). Suddenly back on Earth, it's clear that all this is a daydream. Erlikh is arrested for theft. A poster on a wall advertises a maker of tires - 'Anta Odeli Uta': the wireless message had been an advertisement. Los had not injured or killed Natasha and they make up: he burns his spaceship plans and promises to stop daydreaming.

Cast

Yuliya Solntseva Yuliya Ippolitovna Solntseva (russian: Ю́лия Ипполи́товна Со́лнцева; born Yuliya Ippolitovna Peresvetova, 7 August 1901 – 28 October 1989) was a Soviet actress and film director. As an actress, she is known for st ...

as Aelita, Queen of Mars * Igor Ilyinsky as Kravtsov – amateur sleuth *

as Engineer Los / Evgeni Spiridonov * Nikolay Batalov as Gusev, Red Army Soldier * Vera Orlova as Nurse Masha, Gusev's Wife *

as Natasha, Los' Wife (as Vera Kuindzhi) *

Pavel Pol Pavel Nikolaevich Pol (russian: link=no, Павел Николаевич Поль) (born: Sinitsyn, 10 May 1887 – 26 April 1955) was a Russian and Soviet actor. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1947). Biography Pavel was born on May 10, 1887. ...

as Viktor Erlich, Sugar Profiteer *

Konstantin Eggert Konstantin Vladimorovich Eggert (russian: Константин Владимирович Эггерт; 9 October 1883 – 24 October 1955) was a Russian actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The acto ...

as Tuskub, Ruler of Mars *

Yuri Zavadsky Yuri Aleksandrovich Zavadsky (russian: Юрий Александрович Завадский; 12 July 1894, Moscow — 5 April 1977, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian theater director, actor and pedagogue. People's Artist of the USSR (1948) and ...

as Gol, Radiant Energy Tower Guardian * Aleksandra Peregonets as Ikhoshka, Aelita's Maidservant * Sofya Levitina as President House Committee

Influences

One of the earliest full-length films about space travel, the most notable segment remains its remarkable constructivist Martian sets by Isaac Rabinovich and

Victor Simov Viktor Andreyevich Simov (Russian: Виктор Андреевич Симов, 14 April 1858, Moscow - 21 August 1935, Moscow) was a Russian painter and scenographer. Biography He graduated from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Ar ...

and costumes designed by Aleksandra Ekster. Their influence can be seen in a number of later films, including the ''Flash Gordon'' serials and probably Fritz Lang's '' Metropolis'' and '' Woman in the Moon'' and the more recent '' Liquid Sky''. Parts of the plot were loosely adapted for the 1951 film '' Flight to Mars''. J. Hoberman of '' The Village Voice'' wrote that the 1960 American film '' Beyond the Time Barrier'' "suggests an impoverished remake" of ''Aelita''. While initially very popular, it later fell out of favor with the Soviet government and was thus very difficult to see until after the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

Reception

In a retrospective on Soviet science fiction film, British filmmaker Alex Cox remarking on BFI Southbank's celebration of "Eastern Bloc science fiction" called ''Aelita'' "Strangest of these ..in which the human pastime of kissing creates turmoil on the red planet."

Home media

The 2004 Ruscico DVD from runs 104 minutes, and has a musical score based on the music of Scriabin,

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

and Glazunov.

References

External links

* *
"Science Fiction of the Domestic" by Andrew J. Horton
*
Multi-language DVD released by RUSCICO
* * {{Authority control 1924 films Soviet black-and-white films Films about extraterrestrial life Films based on science fiction novels Films directed by Yakov Protazanov Films set in 1921 Films set in Moscow Films shot in Moscow Gorky Film Studio films Mars in film Planetary romances Soviet science fiction films Soviet silent feature films Articles containing video clips 1920s science fiction films Silent horror films Silent science fiction films