Voyage to the End of the Universe

Considering that this film was made in 1963, in Czechoslovakia, at a time when so much sci-fi schlok was produced in the spacefaring United States, this film is a rare, welcome sight to the eyes. Intelligently produced and designed, with good character development and good special effects, I miss seeing this film which seems to have been lost in the Great Transition To Video; I know of no distributors for it. It does have its corny moments, but this is excusable in light of the time in which it was made. The ending was unfortunately changed for U.S. viewers, which is a shame; It is the U.S. ending which gets criticized most...I imagine the European ending would have been more in keeping with its originality, and would hope that American International would re-release it in the U.S., with new dubbing (I'm one of those non-purists who can't stand sub-titles...they interfere with the enjoyment of the image. And yes, dubbing CAN be done well, when done RIGHT!). It's been nineteen years since I saw it over the airwaves. I hope it has not vanished; It would be a shame for others not to experience it.

IKARIE XB-1 is one of the most compelling science fiction films ever made. Filmed in very Cold War era Czecheslovokia and rarely seen in North America in it's complete widescreen form, this is a movie that was so ahead of it's time that only 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY managed to raise the bar above what was set here with it's meticulous depiction of outer space vehicles in action.

If there is any shortcoming to IKARIE it's simply that: The space ship model effects are somewhat awkward & unconvincing, a setback that the movie might not recover from in the mind's eye of viewers raised on 30+ years of George Lucas & Steven Spielberg special effects films. But viewers who are interested in a story will be more than rewarded with a complex drama about a group of humans off in search of a brave new world to populate, with an ending sequence that is perhaps the most provocative element of the entire film -- and would later find form again in Mario Bava's PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES, albeit in a different manner. There is no doubt that the Italian master was influenced by this film.

For me the most striking sequence is a daring, risky, and potentially scandalous commentary by these Soviet Bloc filmmakers when they have their explorers encounter a derelict craft floating aimlessly & without power in the empty nothing between the stars. A boarding party is dispatched to discover that it was an early Earth craft which had been dispatched during a nuclear conflict who's crew was made up of decadent aristocrats who had been attempting to escape the carnage back on Earth. They are long dead, mummified to the point where their bodies disintegrate when brushed against, and had apparently been killed off by the military flight crew when it became clear the oxygen supply was about to run dry. The quiet, calm horror of the scene is unprecedented even by today's standards, with the accidental triggering of one of the ship's obsolete but still functional nuclear warheads providing a nerve-shattering moment as the two hapless crewmen attempt to escape the airless, gravity deprived hell in space.

One of the aspects that makes the scene so convincing was the space suit designs created by the artistic visionaries behind the film. They look even more functional, practical and "real" than the Mercury era space flight technology of the day: Bulky, armored, pressurized tin cans with knee joints, claw-like cloves, and magnetized boot plates. The scene of the two astronauts trying to run across the derelict flight deck for the airlock to escape the explosion is a marvel of not only applied science but choreography. In my opinion the film is worth tracking down for this one sequence alone.

And now you can: The film was issued in 2005 on a marvelous Czech made PAL format DVD that shows the film in the correct 2:35:1 Techniscope widescreen format with the original, unaltered & un-messed with ending sequence intact. Any serious fan of Cold War era science fiction simply must acquire one. I will admit that some of the more talky middle "soap opera in space" segments sort of lag the pacing a bit, but the 81 minutes is over quickly and the impression one is left with is that the thinking behind the movie was miles ahead of anything that came out of the West at the same time. Along with the Russian PLANETA BUR and the East German/Polish SILENT STAR aka FIRST SPACESHIP ON VENUS, this is one of the most important & overlooked masterpieces of science fiction from the time when manned space flight was becoming a reality.

All three films are grounded in actual science with impressive visual power that still has potency. What makes IKARIE XB-1 even more impressive is that it lacks some of the glory-boy propagandizing of the Soviet Bloc's entertainment machine, which was designed to enthrall the masses with depictions of glorious Soviet cosmonauts conquering the cosmos -- something that never really quite happened. Those movies were meant to placate the Proletariat and give them a reason to make do cheer for the genuine oppression under which they lived. By contrast, IKARIE is almost a work of pure artistic expression, which is in itself remarkable considering the conditions under which it was made.

8/10

I just saw a gorgeous, widescreen, subtitled print of "Ikarie XB 1", also known as "Voyage To The End of the Universe", at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. The print, restored by the Czech studio that originally released it, is in black and white, and was obviously shot that way. Its complete running time is listed in the program notes as 84 minutes, though it may have been a few minutes longer. (I should have checked my watch). Like several others who've commented on this, I first saw this movie as a kid when AIP released a dubbed version in the 60s. Its definitely not a kiddie movie, and is still quite impressive for its effects and production design, as well as its intelligent story.

Ikarie XB1 is the first Czech SF movie. It was released in black and white only. The story relies to some extent on one of Stanislav Lem's books. The movie is still appreciated not only among science fiction fans in Czechia, but mainly because of its high ambitions. The movie not only shows a trip to proxima centauri, but it also tried to predict future music and dance.

Due to the time it was created (early 60ies) there are some ideological compromises to the communism and cold war.

Written by the same man who wrote Solaris, rather than a science fantasy, space opera, or race movie like many other scifi films of that era (many of which are just as excellent in their own way - see The Sky Calls, Planeta Bur, or Forbidden Planet, for example), Ikarie XB1 (aka Journey to the End of the Universe) is a serious-minded science fiction drama, with element of mystery and suspense.

My rating of 9 out of 10 Stars might be a little exuberant, but that was my reaction to the film. The sets are sumptuous, almost art deco, the black and white cinematography crisp and beautiful to look at, and the acting always competent or better. The score is largely electronic, with some distorted electric guitar, and no orchestral elements.

Ikarie XB1 is so different from a lot of other science fiction cinema being produced at the time that I found it to be a captivating surprise.