For the discerning science fiction fan, this is the best of the Eastern-bloc Cold War Sci-fi epics, a genuinely brilliant and warmly human ‘Voyage to the End of the Universe,’ restored in 4k resolution. It’s from before 2001: A Space Odyssey, and has an equally wondrous but totally different vision of the future.
Ikarie Xb 1
Blu-ray
Nfa (Czechoslovak National Film Archive)
1963 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 88 min. / Street Date March, 2017
Starring: Radovan Lukavský, Zdenek Stepánek, Frantisek Smolík, Otto Lackovic, Irena Kacírková Dana Medrická
Cinematography: Jan Kalis, Sasa Rasilov
Production Designer: Jan Zázvorka
Special Effects: Jan Kalis
Film Editor: Josef Dobrichovský
Original Music: Zdenek Liska
Written by Jindrich Polák and Pavel Jurácek, adapted from the novel The Magellanic Cloud by Stanislaus Lem.
Produced by Filmové Studio Barrandov
Directed by Jindrich Polák
The trailer for the new restoration of Ikarie Xb 1 (no hyphen) pretty much tells the story. A shot...
Ikarie Xb 1
Blu-ray
Nfa (Czechoslovak National Film Archive)
1963 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 88 min. / Street Date March, 2017
Starring: Radovan Lukavský, Zdenek Stepánek, Frantisek Smolík, Otto Lackovic, Irena Kacírková Dana Medrická
Cinematography: Jan Kalis, Sasa Rasilov
Production Designer: Jan Zázvorka
Special Effects: Jan Kalis
Film Editor: Josef Dobrichovský
Original Music: Zdenek Liska
Written by Jindrich Polák and Pavel Jurácek, adapted from the novel The Magellanic Cloud by Stanislaus Lem.
Produced by Filmové Studio Barrandov
Directed by Jindrich Polák
The trailer for the new restoration of Ikarie Xb 1 (no hyphen) pretty much tells the story. A shot...
- 7/4/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
There are few names in the film world that mass audiences both recognize and give some sort of connotation to. Martin Scorsese. Steven Spielberg. Michael Bay. All of these names are not only recognizable to just about 100% of any particular audience entering a cinema, but instantly bring to mind the type of picture one would expect to see come from them. However, not all filmmakers have the pleasure of being the world-changing, name brand cinematic legends that few like the men named within this paragraph are, despite deserving that (and so very much more). So, in turn, some curation may be needed as not only an introduction to a singular cinematic universe, but also a perfect entry point into a world that cinephiles may not have been introduced to.
That’s what makes the work that Zeitgeist Films, Syncopy and beloved filmmaker Christopher Nolan have done with regards to their...
That’s what makes the work that Zeitgeist Films, Syncopy and beloved filmmaker Christopher Nolan have done with regards to their...
- 12/2/2015
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
★★★★☆ It's the year 2163, and the spaceship Ikarie Xb-1 is off to explore life on the 'white planet' orbiting the Alpha Centauri. Like the Greek mythological figure Icarus, whose name christens the spaceship, we follow the mixed crew as they fly too close to the sun, drawing ever closer to something that - without giving the game away too much - will be found all too familiar to its audiences. Jindřich Polák's 1963 Czechoslovak fantasy film may well be a cornerstone of the genre, but it also bridges the gap between the psychological drama, the kitsch space film and a sharp critique of the country's capitalist past.
Based on the novel The Magellanic Cloud (Obłok Magellana) by Polish sci-fi writer Stanisław Lem (of Solaris fame), the film follows a loosely episodic nature, tracking scenes of crew boredom and festivities, as much as moments of sharp danger and tension. Cinematographers Jan Kalis and...
Based on the novel The Magellanic Cloud (Obłok Magellana) by Polish sci-fi writer Stanisław Lem (of Solaris fame), the film follows a loosely episodic nature, tracking scenes of crew boredom and festivities, as much as moments of sharp danger and tension. Cinematographers Jan Kalis and...
- 9/30/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Ikarie Xb-1 | Mud | Banshee | Hannibal | Hitchcock
Ikarie Xb-1
This seldom seen but significant Czech science fiction film from 1963 can almost be regarded as the missing link between the flamboyant outer-space movies of the 50s, such as Forbidden Planet, and the more serious, sterile and cerebral fare of the pre-Star Wars 1970s. Like 1972's Solaris, Jindrich Polák's film is based on a novel by Stanislaw Lem (The Magellanic Cloud in this instance) and concerns a mission to explore deep space, portraying the cosmos as an impossibly huge area full of dangers unimaginable to the puny human mind. There are plenty of holdovers from the film's groovy 50s forebears (the spaceship of the title even has a cocktail lounge); and visually it's a delight, the inventively lit sets conjuring a mood unlike any other movie of the era. The space-age trappings are also highly imaginative, from magnetic boots to tubes...
Ikarie Xb-1
This seldom seen but significant Czech science fiction film from 1963 can almost be regarded as the missing link between the flamboyant outer-space movies of the 50s, such as Forbidden Planet, and the more serious, sterile and cerebral fare of the pre-Star Wars 1970s. Like 1972's Solaris, Jindrich Polák's film is based on a novel by Stanislaw Lem (The Magellanic Cloud in this instance) and concerns a mission to explore deep space, portraying the cosmos as an impossibly huge area full of dangers unimaginable to the puny human mind. There are plenty of holdovers from the film's groovy 50s forebears (the spaceship of the title even has a cocktail lounge); and visually it's a delight, the inventively lit sets conjuring a mood unlike any other movie of the era. The space-age trappings are also highly imaginative, from magnetic boots to tubes...
- 8/31/2013
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
I get lots of lovely lurid stuff in the mail that sometimes I just don’t have the time to write about and the stacks of sick flicks are starting to pile up. So just to ensure that these occasionally spectacular new release/ reissue titles don’t slip through the creepy cracks, allow me to insert this little dark entry in ye old Bloode Spattered Blogge and lay some love on a slew of pictures that recently rocked my world.
Ready? Here we go…
The Centerfold Girls
I first sort of picked up on the myth of Andrew Prine back in the late 80’s, when I caught a screening of Charles Band’s ho-hum sci-fi action cheapie Eliminators on late night TV. His presence failed to register, but the name for some reason seemed to stick in my skull. The deeper I sunk into my never ending obsession with grittier strains of horror cinema,...
Ready? Here we go…
The Centerfold Girls
I first sort of picked up on the myth of Andrew Prine back in the late 80’s, when I caught a screening of Charles Band’s ho-hum sci-fi action cheapie Eliminators on late night TV. His presence failed to register, but the name for some reason seemed to stick in my skull. The deeper I sunk into my never ending obsession with grittier strains of horror cinema,...
- 4/13/2009
- Fangoria
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