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Battle Beyond the Sun
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Battle Beyond the Sun
Battle Beyond the Sun is a 1962 science fiction film. It is an English-dubbed and re-edited American version of Nebo Zovyot, a 1959 Soviet science fiction film. Roger Corman acquired the Soviet film for U.S. distribution and hired a young film-school student named Francis Ford Coppola to "Americanize" it.
Like the original Soviet Nebo Zovyot, Battle Beyond the Sun is a tale of a "space race" between two nations competing to become the first to land a spacecraft on the planet Mars; unlike the original, in which the competing nations are the USSR and the US, Battle Beyond the Sun focuses on the fictional future countries of North Hemis and South Hemis. The names of not only the Soviet characters, but also their performers, and the crew credits as well, were altered on the screen to American-sounding names in order to further disguise the film's origins: thus Soviet stars Aleksandr Shvorin and Ivan Pereverzev became "Andy Stewart" and "Edd Perry", and Soviet directors Mikhail Karyukov and Aleksandr Kozyr became "Maurice Kaplin" and "Arthur Corwin" – and were demoted to Assistant Director status as well. The advertising and release print's designated director is credited as Thomas Colchart; sources vary as to whom that name actually belongs (Karyukov and/or Kozyr, Coppola, or a hired American dubbing director).
In addition to preparing a dubbing script free of anti-American propaganda and all references to the USSR and USA, and supervising the dubbing, Francis Ford Coppola slightly re-edited the footage, eliminated the framing "daydream" sequences, and even saw to it that a pastel rhombus shape was matted in on a frame-by-frame basis, to cover the Cyrillic letters CCCP (USSR) which adorned the space station and Soviet rocketships.
Coppola also filmed a few shots of two space monsters fighting and cut them into the Soviet material. According to Jack Hill, who worked on the new version (it was his first paid job for Roger Corman), Coppola's idea was that one monster would look like a penis and the other a vagina. The new monster scenes were shot on a sound stage in Hollywood. Hill and Coppola also shot some footage of the Rose Parade at Pasadena.
A reporter interviews Dr. Kornev about his work in space travel. While writing his story, the reporter daydreams about such a future. In the daydream, he and others board a rocket that takes them to an orbiting space station. There, he learns the large rocket, the Rodina, is docked at the station. A short while later, an American rocket, the Typhoon, which is ostensibly having mechanical problems, arrives at the space station and is allowed to dock. The Soviet scientists hold a dinner for the visitors. At the dinner, Kornev announces that the Rodina will travel to the planet Mars in a few days, The Americans, Clark and Verst, are taken aback. The Typhoon was secretly prepared to make the first Mars mission. The reckless American authorities order Clark to take the Typhoon to Mars immediately. In their haste to blast off, they injure Somov, the Rodina's pilot. Gordiienko steps in as the new pilot. He and Kornev take off in the Rodina as planned.
Not long after departure, things go wrong aboard Typhoon. Their course is off and they have too little fuel to correct it. Now they are headed for an asteroid belt and if they survive that, a collision course with the sun. Clark radios the Soviets, seeking help. Kornev decides they can help and flies the Rodina to the rescue. Doing so, however, uses too much fuel, so the Rodina must land on the asteroid Icarus where they all at least get a fine view of Mars. A pilotless refueling rocket is sent to Icarus, but crashes. The men on Icarus despair. Verst awakens to see a fifth man on Icarus. It is Somov. He flew another pilotless refueling rocket to Icarus, but since it was not built as a crewed spacecraft, he suffered lethal cosmic radiation and dies. The surviving four are able to blast off and return to a hero's greeting in the Soviet Union.
The film opens with a non-sequitur prologue in which a narrator voice explains space flight concepts. Models of space craft "currently under development by the United States Government" are shown in succession. The narrator usefully explains that "the motion picture you are about to see may be called 'a fantasy of the future'."
The time: November 1997. In the "fear-ridden years following the great atomic war", the world has been divided into northern and southern hemispheres. The camera zooms in toward the South Hemis banner. Dr. Albert Gordon and his wife, Dr. Ruth Gordon, currently head the top secret "Project Red Planet" for South Hemis. [The footage seen is from the original Russian-Soviet, with names Anglicized.] A space mission – more re-purposed footage – blasts off for an orbiting space station. The mission docks with the station, delivering the Gordons as well as astronaut Craig Matthews.
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Battle Beyond the Sun
Battle Beyond the Sun is a 1962 science fiction film. It is an English-dubbed and re-edited American version of Nebo Zovyot, a 1959 Soviet science fiction film. Roger Corman acquired the Soviet film for U.S. distribution and hired a young film-school student named Francis Ford Coppola to "Americanize" it.
Like the original Soviet Nebo Zovyot, Battle Beyond the Sun is a tale of a "space race" between two nations competing to become the first to land a spacecraft on the planet Mars; unlike the original, in which the competing nations are the USSR and the US, Battle Beyond the Sun focuses on the fictional future countries of North Hemis and South Hemis. The names of not only the Soviet characters, but also their performers, and the crew credits as well, were altered on the screen to American-sounding names in order to further disguise the film's origins: thus Soviet stars Aleksandr Shvorin and Ivan Pereverzev became "Andy Stewart" and "Edd Perry", and Soviet directors Mikhail Karyukov and Aleksandr Kozyr became "Maurice Kaplin" and "Arthur Corwin" – and were demoted to Assistant Director status as well. The advertising and release print's designated director is credited as Thomas Colchart; sources vary as to whom that name actually belongs (Karyukov and/or Kozyr, Coppola, or a hired American dubbing director).
In addition to preparing a dubbing script free of anti-American propaganda and all references to the USSR and USA, and supervising the dubbing, Francis Ford Coppola slightly re-edited the footage, eliminated the framing "daydream" sequences, and even saw to it that a pastel rhombus shape was matted in on a frame-by-frame basis, to cover the Cyrillic letters CCCP (USSR) which adorned the space station and Soviet rocketships.
Coppola also filmed a few shots of two space monsters fighting and cut them into the Soviet material. According to Jack Hill, who worked on the new version (it was his first paid job for Roger Corman), Coppola's idea was that one monster would look like a penis and the other a vagina. The new monster scenes were shot on a sound stage in Hollywood. Hill and Coppola also shot some footage of the Rose Parade at Pasadena.
A reporter interviews Dr. Kornev about his work in space travel. While writing his story, the reporter daydreams about such a future. In the daydream, he and others board a rocket that takes them to an orbiting space station. There, he learns the large rocket, the Rodina, is docked at the station. A short while later, an American rocket, the Typhoon, which is ostensibly having mechanical problems, arrives at the space station and is allowed to dock. The Soviet scientists hold a dinner for the visitors. At the dinner, Kornev announces that the Rodina will travel to the planet Mars in a few days, The Americans, Clark and Verst, are taken aback. The Typhoon was secretly prepared to make the first Mars mission. The reckless American authorities order Clark to take the Typhoon to Mars immediately. In their haste to blast off, they injure Somov, the Rodina's pilot. Gordiienko steps in as the new pilot. He and Kornev take off in the Rodina as planned.
Not long after departure, things go wrong aboard Typhoon. Their course is off and they have too little fuel to correct it. Now they are headed for an asteroid belt and if they survive that, a collision course with the sun. Clark radios the Soviets, seeking help. Kornev decides they can help and flies the Rodina to the rescue. Doing so, however, uses too much fuel, so the Rodina must land on the asteroid Icarus where they all at least get a fine view of Mars. A pilotless refueling rocket is sent to Icarus, but crashes. The men on Icarus despair. Verst awakens to see a fifth man on Icarus. It is Somov. He flew another pilotless refueling rocket to Icarus, but since it was not built as a crewed spacecraft, he suffered lethal cosmic radiation and dies. The surviving four are able to blast off and return to a hero's greeting in the Soviet Union.
The film opens with a non-sequitur prologue in which a narrator voice explains space flight concepts. Models of space craft "currently under development by the United States Government" are shown in succession. The narrator usefully explains that "the motion picture you are about to see may be called 'a fantasy of the future'."
The time: November 1997. In the "fear-ridden years following the great atomic war", the world has been divided into northern and southern hemispheres. The camera zooms in toward the South Hemis banner. Dr. Albert Gordon and his wife, Dr. Ruth Gordon, currently head the top secret "Project Red Planet" for South Hemis. [The footage seen is from the original Russian-Soviet, with names Anglicized.] A space mission – more re-purposed footage – blasts off for an orbiting space station. The mission docks with the station, delivering the Gordons as well as astronaut Craig Matthews.