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Rating:  - This is the cut version
There have been a few comments on whether or not this is the cut version. I'm not sure how Amazon associates reviews with titles but comments on the DEFA version shouldn't apply to this DVD which is a St Clair Vision release. The St Clair Vision release is the 80 minute version, not a 130 minute version, despite what the DVD box says and despite what Amazon says. Amazon should correct their information and give some grief to the distributor. I'm returning the DVD as I already have the shorter version in other collections. I'd give the film itself a higher rating - I appreciate it for where it was coming from at the time and, frankly, as camp fun - so this rating is based soley on the false advertising.
Rating:  - really good hard scifi
I saw this as a very young boy with my dad, right when it came out. All I remembered are a few images: the sharpened nacelles of the ship, the lone black man running towards the departing ship, the fall of the hero into a room full of bouncing metallic bugs. As I put this on to watch with my son, I expected it to be pure, cheesy camp to be shared and laughed at.
However, what I discovered is that the film has not only a sophisticated plot, but great themes in it as well. As with all great scifi, there is a potentially deadly mystery to be solved: the meaning of the message discovered and the nature (and intent) of the civilization from which it came. To answer these questions, a team of the top scientific minds take off for Venus, the apparent place of origin. Dodging metorites and bravely plugging ahead even after they translate the terrifying message, they find a planet that is as alien as the civilization that marked it. It is a truly weird landscape, including apparently intelligent mud, memory devices that look like ants, and an incomprehensible power system for the mysteriously missing venutians. SLowly, they decifer only part of the mystery, leaving the rest to the imagination of the audience - another mark of all great scifi.
An additional treat is that this is an East German production, made at the height of the Cold War, with a vision of peace, international cooperation, and the beginning of a new era of exploration of space. It was quite inspiring.
Needless to say, this was a bit over the head of my son (8) as it was for me in 1962. But he enjoyed the images, the joking intelligent tank-shaped computer, and wondered about the nationalities of the team members. We had fun watching and then discussing it. This is far better as scifi than the kill-'em monster films of the era.
Recommended. The effects now appear clunky, but the mood is consistent and the story moves briskly, with that indefinable sense of mystery.
Rating:  - Switch on the emergency gyro
It is the 1962 view of 1985 (they could have picked 1984). All is right with the world. We discover a rock that contains a spool (what ever a spool is); the spool is discovered to contain a message. And want a message. In 1908 Tunguska (read the facts about this in the book "The Fire Came by: The Riddle of the Great Siberian Explosion" by John Baxter - 1976) a great explosion took place. Evidently this was a space vehicle of extraterrestrial origin. It jettisoned the spool upon exploding.
We do not have time to decipher the message do it will have to be deciphered on the way to Venus. Our East German space ship rivals those of Japanese sci-fi with one exception. This ship has an emergency Gyro that can only be activated by using a special hammer to break the glass.
Mean time what will we find on Venus and will it destroy or carry a message to all mankind.
First Spaceship On Venus 16x9 Version
Rating:  - GREAT DVD FROM IMAGE!!!
I have so many copies of this film on vhs & dvd... but I've always liked this sci-fi mini-classic so much that I kept looking for the perfect print...Look no further, this is IT!!!
IMAGE has given us a pristine, color-adjusted gem!
Yoko Tani heads a multi-national/racial cast that blasts off in search of life on Venus and encounters many dangers and several deaths. Intelligent script, fine acting & astounding set pieces make for great sci-fi viewing.
And it's all so beautiful to look at!
Great print. Great price!
Recommended viewing.
Rating: - Worth watching
Surprisingly good for an old sci fi movie. The budget for the sets wasn't real big, but the whole premise of the movie was entertaining. Worth having for the collection.
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