Rating: 
Summary: So close...
Review: Aelita is a fascninating movie, with some enjoyable comic effect. Then the plot takes an Uzi to its own foot at the end. Still, the artwork is magnificient, and the movie deserves to be seen just for that. Just try not guffaw at the end of the film.
Rating: 
Summary: Mars draws parallels to Mother Russia
Review: Aelita is a film riddled with stories of uprisings, rebellions, and communism. What is interesting about this film is that it is seen from two worlds. Hailed as the first science fiction film from Russia, it depicts the social economy in Russia during 1924, and compares it to the Martian capitalist society that is watching from the Red Planet in the sky. A radio signal from an unknown source has been sent all over the world, and while some disregard this as just a innocent jumble of messages, Los, a individualist, yet jealous engineer thinks that it is a message from Mars. He begins work on a space craft that will ultimately take him to the uncharted planet, but also ruin his personal life. On Mars, The Queen, Aelita, has discovered that some of her scientists have created a telescope that can watch the planet Earth up close. Trying not to get caught, odd because she is Queen, she sneaks a peak through the telescope and sees our favorite murderer and engineer, Los. She immediately falls in love with him and even appears in one of his dreams. When he arrives to meet her on Mars, he discovers a world not unlike his own that he was trying to escape. Riddled with similarities, Los must fight for not only for Mother Russia, but for the surrounding red planet.
For my first viewing of a silent film, I was unimpressed. I thought that it was going to show a short, simple story that would show me the techniques that Hollywood uses today. While I did see some of sci-fi's beginnings with this film, I felt that it stressed too much on the symbolic nature of these characters instead of developing a story. I will say this, the director is daring to make this film. It involves several character development, a hard task to tackle in the silent film era because it was hard to keep track of who was who. One aspect that I thought was interesting that lost itself in the translation to DVD was the music.
This was a harsh film to watch. A little over two hours, it was too much silent film for me. I found myself getting angry at the music, and a headache because I couldn't follow which character was which. I also don't know much about the history of Russia during this time, so I had trouble following why these characters were acting in this style. What I did find interesting was the turn of events in this film. I really never saw them coming. I never thought that Aelita would be such a power hog. The director was again trying to make a statement about life in Russia, but it still made me stop and make sure I was capturing the moment correctly. Had some good psychological moments tied with some great characters that no doubt came from Russian literature.
Overall, strong moments with a very weak plot made it a tough watch. I will have to give that it was a powerful film for a silent movie, but just not what I was hoping for or expecting. Check this movie out if you are a big sci-fi history buff. I think this is right in your corner, but for everyone else...I will continue to search for the best.
Grade: ** out of *****
Rating:
Summary: Hokum - made in Russia!
Review: Aelita is a spectacular failure. Made to compete with the great productions from Germany and USA, it was the Leviathan of Russian silent movies; hyper-expensive and long in the making.It became the victim of a critical backlash (too much capitalist wishy-washying) and was quietly withdrawn from circulation soon after its bombastic premiere opening, featuring larger-than-life models of Aelita's characters outside the cinemas and advance hype of the highest order. Soon even the rumour of it faded into obscurity, yet some remembered. The Soviet State Film archives didn't destroy the negative (apparently, they have preserved everything, however subversive!) Aelita was still mentioned fleetingly during the years (John Grierson tried to aquire a copy) but not until Glasnost was it released to new audiences. And now it's on DVD. This is a film you will want to see just once. Oh, you can probably return to it and watch individual scenes, but I myself wouldn't ever want to see the entire film again. It's badly directed and the story is complete hokum. The special effects are perfunctory. Just take a peek at that lens or telescope the Martians use to watch life on earth. Whoever conceived that one? When Aelita looks into the telescope, it's from a distance of 50cm from the ocular, which means she can't see anything at all. The space-ship looks like a pot bellied boiler from the Titanic.
I've seen much better effects in other films from the 20ies. The planet Mars, however, is imaginatively rendered and the costumes and make-up are a sight to behold! Check out those hair-dos! The scenes from earth are interesting. Not for the melodramatic story, but the social aspect of it. Post-revolutionary Soviet had great housing and food supply problems and this features strongly in Aelita. If only they had got rid of that terrible counter-revolutionary villain and his obnoxious wife, Aelita would have been so much better. Buy it only if you want to support the release of old silents on DVD, or is an avid collector of all things rare and silent.
Rating: 
Summary: Marxist ethics on Mars
Review: Aelita, Queen of Mars is certainly a gem of a movie. Made in 1924, it is a look at how Communist philosophy plays out in speculative fiction during the silent era. Purportedly, it was made on a fantastic budget, and the sets on Mars show it. The costuming for the Martian aristocrats concerns styles that were non-existent at the time, and seem to have arrived out of the 50's American Sci-Fi films. The Martian sets were indeed, outlandish and worth getting the DVD just to see.
The story is slightly weak, attempting to cover too much ground and too many genres for the amount of time presented. However, it does not detract from the important historic value of the picture and the simple enjoyment of watching the tale unfold.
The film displays the humorous exploits of the Bourgeoise Zie, and the stark poverty the Proletariat suffered in 1924 Russia.
In a way, this film could be an equal criticism of both. It takes an inordinately long time for the main character to reach Mars, although Mars is shown throughout the film, following Aelita, queen of Mars as she goes about.
The DVD has no special features worthy of note. The average scene selection and nothing else, but the restoration work is excellent, keeping true to even the few parts of the film that were intended to be poor quality. It is truly a film worthy of being presented on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Commies on Mars!
Review: An early piece of science fiction cinema, Aelita is an interesting gem of a movie. It is from the silent era and will probably not gain a lot of followers from those raised on the big budget productions common from Hollywood today. It was made in Russia in 1924 and is little more than Marxist propaganda, however, as a piece of science fiction and cinema history, it is of interest. The movie starts with radios around the world receiving a mysterious transmission. It is decided that the signal is from Mars (for no apparent reason), and a Russian scientist (Loss) decides that he will build a spaceship to travel there. (Title card: ?[Loss] works all night to construct a spaceship to take him there?!) Meanwhile, Aelita, the queen of Mars, uses a viewing device to watch the people of Earth. She sees Loss and falls madly in love with him (so much for long courtship). At the same time, we are shown the struggles of the Soviet people in the early days of Communism and a group of conspirators who prey upon the simple hardworking Soviet citizens. One of these conspirators tries to seduce Loss? wife over to the ways of the old (capitalist) society. Loss becomes enraged when he believes that his wife has cheated on him and kills her. He must now use his rocketship to escape from the law. He takes off in his craft with a Soviet soldier, Gussev, as his traveling companion (a police detective in pursuit of Loss also stows away). When they arrive on Mars, they find that the rulers there (including Aelita) are tyrants that enslave and torture the common people. Led by Gussev, the people stage a revolt to put down the tyrants and establish a socialist society on Mars. Loss kills Aelita then awakens to find that it was all a dream and that he had never traveled to Mars and that he had never shot his wife. He discovers that she did not really cheat on him and the two are reunited. The movie is essentially a Marxist parable. It shows people who have lost faith in the ideals of the revolution but eventually are swayed back to the side of socialism. In this sense, it a less of a cinematic feature and more of a propaganda tool. It is an interesting piece of movie history though. It is an early attempt at science fiction and an interesting window into the nascent Soviet Republic. The special effects are so-so, but hey, this was made in 1924. The cubist imagery used to depict the Martian society is fascinating. And the spacecraft used to travel to Mars is actually based on sound scientific principles. It is a liquid fuel propelled rocket, though it is bloated and unwieldy in appearance. Tracking in at almost two hours (111 minutes), the movie is daunting at times even for the most dedicated of viewers. But still I would say it is worth the effort for sci fi and movie historians. Unfortunately, the DVD version contains no additional features. It would have been interesting to see some information on early Russian cinema.
Rating:
Summary: Commies on Mars!
Review: An early piece of science fiction cinema, Aelita is an interesting gem of a movie. It is from the silent era and will probably not gain a lot of followers from those raised on the big budget productions common from Hollywood today. It was made in Russia in 1924 and is little more than Marxist propaganda, however, as a piece of science fiction and cinema history, it is of interest. The movie starts with radios around the world receiving a mysterious transmission. It is decided that the signal is from Mars (for no apparent reason), and a Russian scientist (Loss) decides that he will build a spaceship to travel there. (Title card: ?[Loss] works all night to construct a spaceship to take him there?!) Meanwhile, Aelita, the queen of Mars, uses a viewing device to watch the people of Earth. She sees Loss and falls madly in love with him (so much for long courtship). At the same time, we are shown the struggles of the Soviet people in the early days of Communism and a group of conspirators who prey upon the simple hardworking Soviet citizens. One of these conspirators tries to seduce Loss? wife over to the ways of the old (capitalist) society. Loss becomes enraged when he believes that his wife has cheated on him and kills her. He must now use his rocketship to escape from the law. He takes off in his craft with a Soviet soldier, Gussev, as his traveling companion (a police detective in pursuit of Loss also stows away). When they arrive on Mars, they find that the rulers there (including Aelita) are tyrants that enslave and torture the common people. Led by Gussev, the people stage a revolt to put down the tyrants and establish a socialist society on Mars. Loss kills Aelita then awakens to find that it was all a dream and that he had never traveled to Mars and that he had never shot his wife. He discovers that she did not really cheat on him and the two are reunited. The movie is essentially a Marxist parable. It shows people who have lost faith in the ideals of the revolution but eventually are swayed back to the side of socialism. In this sense, it a less of a cinematic feature and more of a propaganda tool. It is an interesting piece of movie history though. It is an early attempt at science fiction and an interesting window into the nascent Soviet Republic. The special effects are so-so, but hey, this was made in 1924. The cubist imagery used to depict the Martian society is fascinating. And the spacecraft used to travel to Mars is actually based on sound scientific principles. It is a liquid fuel propelled rocket, though it is bloated and unwieldy in appearance. Tracking in at almost two hours (111 minutes), the movie is daunting at times even for the most dedicated of viewers. But still I would say it is worth the effort for sci fi and movie historians. Unfortunately, the DVD version contains no additional features. It would have been interesting to see some information on early Russian cinema.
Rating:
Summary: Klunky but classic
Review: It takes a long time for this legendary silent science fiction film to reach the cubist/expressionist world of Mars, and even then the Marxist allegory in the story is as about as subtle as a sledge hammer. Still, for those interested in classic sci-fi or early art films, this is a one-of-a-kind movie. And the more the filmmakers try to make the imperialist Queen Aelita look evil, the more alluring she becomes! In short, if you like the original "Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", you'll probably like this.
Rating: 
Summary: beyond the beyond
Review: It's a work of totally visionary science fiction from an utterly vanished revolutionary Soviet Constructivist world. Which is weirder: royal life on Mars, or the fact that this film somehow got produced and distributed? The sets and costumes are utterly mindboggling. This is my favorite work of science fiction cinema. Bruce Sterling
Rating:
Summary: beyond the beyond
Review: It's a work of totally visionary science fiction from an utterly vanished revolutionary Soviet Constructivist world. Which is weirder: royal life on Mars, or the fact that this film somehow got produced and distributed? The sets and costumes are utterly mindboggling. This is my favorite work of science fiction cinema. Bruce Sterling
Rating:
Summary: AELITA - QUEEN OF MARS!
Review: No, this is not some sort of 1950's space babe film! AELITA is a science-fiction SILENT film from the early days of SOVIET cinema! REALLY! The FUTURISTIC SETS here rival those of "Metropolis" (which was made three years later)! The story is quite simple! An engineer in Moscow builds a SPACESHIP to travel to MARS so he can meet the GIRL of his dreams! Of course, once he gets there, instead of romance, he becomes involved in a REBELLION by the PROLETARIATE! Are you really surprised? This is a SOVIET film from 1924! Almost TWO HOURS long! Directed by Yakov Protazenov! A FASCINATING film! This DVD also features an ORCHESTRAL score! So none of that organ music nonsense for this film!
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