First Spaceship on Venus: Kurt Maetzig

For all its camp, Kurt Maetzig's First Spaceship on Venus is a triumph of both production design and ambition. The visuals, technology, and science may be terribly outdated, but they are presented with such sincere earnestness that endearment is inevitable. After the discovery of a piece of alien technology in the Gobi desert, mankind launches a spaceship helmed with an international crew for Venus, the planet that they believe it originated from. And, lo and behold, they discover the ruins of a once mighty civilization that had been planning to conquer the earth before accidentally destroying themselves with nuclear weapons. After one of the astronauts accidentally triggers the doomsday weapon the Venusians were planning on using against earth, they must disarm it before it spells doom for the cosmos. The entire film is drenched in a heavy Eastern bloc aesthetic (being an East German/Polish collaboration) which, while making the film look artistically dated, gives the audience the impression of being truly submersed into a different world. The special effects and set designs have a distinct charm about them, as well. First Spaceship on Venus is a delightful 60s sci-fi gem.

6/10