Tumannost Andromedy

Unfortunately, I have not had a chance to see a dubbed or subtitled (in English) version of this Russian film. However, I consider "Tumannost Andromedy" ("The Andromeda Nebula") as one of the best sci-fi flicks dealing with space exploration, regardless. The plot, being very similar to another East European film, the Czech "Ikarie XB1, is about a long-duration spaceflight to a nearby star, Epsilon Tucanea [or something, like that], in the year 3000.

The spaceship interior, just like in "Ikaria", is very well-designed (there is even a swimming pool in the recreation hall], and once the astronauts land on a dark planet, the film features excellent special effects. The film's ludicrous and bombastic communist ideology should be overlooked, but the story [by A. Yefremov, who was also a planetologist by trade, so he really knew about astronomy and space] is rather intriguing. It is also nice to see the future Earth, where the air and waters are clean, and people live in harmony. (Nowadays, especially when seeing the contemporary cinema, it probably sounds rather corny - unfortunately...)

It seems, however, that this film is only the first of a planned two-part sequence ("Part 1: Prisoners of the Iron Star" [in Russian, of course] is being clearly stated at the beginning of the film), and the second part was never finished - probably because of the film's unfavourable reception. Nevertheless, I have found this film being very unique and atmospheric, even in its unfinished form and with its original language. (In used bookstores, the book ["Andromeda - A Space Age Tale"], upon which the film was based, is widely available.)