18 Soviet science fiction films that really impress

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

In this list you will find both "Guest from the Future" and "Moscow - Cassiopeia", as well as "Letters from a Dead Man."

18. Dungeon witches

• Czechoslovakia, USSR, 1990.
• Science fiction, adventure.
• Duration: 85 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 6, 4.

In the future, the expedition of earthlings ends up on a planet suitable for human life. However, the heroes discover that evolution here went in a strange way: people of the Stone Age coexist with dinosaurs and mammals at the same time, and the leader of one of the tribes fights with an iron sword. The aborigines also attack the researchers themselves, and they simultaneously try to uncover the secrets of such a strange life.

Kira Bulychev is considered by many to be an exclusively children's writer. However, he personally adapted his dark story "The Witches' Dungeon" for the script of the film. True, the picture turned out to be successful only in terms of the plot - many scolded the special effects.

17. The Testament of Professor Dowell

• USSR, 1984.
• Science fiction, drama.
• Duration: 91 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 6, 6.

Professor Dowell invented a liquid that can bring a person back to life after death. As a result, the scientist himself, who died of a heart attack, exists in the form of a head, separated from the body. Dowell's apprentice is trying to uncover the mystery of the discovery.

The writer Alexander Belyaev called his novel "Professor Dowell's Head" almost autobiographical. Due to tuberculosis, he spent three years without getting out of bed. However, in the film adaptation, the plot of the work was greatly simplified, leaving only the general outline. The result is a combination of science fiction and crime detective.

16. Great space travel

• USSR, 1975.
• Science fiction, melodrama.
• Duration: 66 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 7, 1.

In the near future, three Soviet schoolchildren set off on an experimental space journey aboard the Astra. But two weeks after takeoff, mysterious events begin to occur with the members of the expedition.

Visual analogies to Stanley Kubrick's famous 2001: A Space Odyssey are easy to spot in this children's film. And the play by Sergei Mikhalkov, based on which the Soviet film was staged, is called "The first three, or the Year 2001 …". But here we are not talking about plagiarism, but rather a tribute to the legendary author.

15. Planet of storms

• USSR, 1961.
• Science fiction, adventure.
• Duration: 78 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 7, 1.

A research expedition of three ships is heading to Venus, but not everyone will be able to reach the planet's surface. And those who get there, including an American and an intelligent robot, will have to face the amazing flora and fauna of the Planet of Storms.

With this advanced for its time film by Pavel Klushantsev, an amazing story happened. The picture was bought for distribution in the United States, re-edited, added new storylines with their actors and passed off as an American film "Journey to a Prehistoric Planet." And two years later it was remounted again and released under the title "Journey to the Planet of Prehistoric Women". Still, the original looks much better than the cut versions.

14. The collapse of engineer Garin

• USSR, 1973.
• Fantastic.
• Duration: 247 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 7, 2.

Taking advantage of the developments of his colleague, engineer Peter Garin assembles a device that can create a powerful heat ray. With its help, the scientist dreams of enriching himself, but representatives of different countries are hunting for the invention.

The novel "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" was already transferred to screens in 1965, when the great Yevgeny Evstigneev played the main role in the film. But one full-length film was not enough to reveal the entire plot of the novel. Therefore, the four-part version with Oleg Borisov looks more exciting, although it strongly deviates from the plot of the original.

13. Museum visitor

• USSR, Germany, Switzerland, 1989.
• Science fiction, drama.
• Duration: 136 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 7, 2.

After an environmental disaster, water floods more and more territories, and people are often born with physical and mental disabilities. The main character is trying to get to the museum, where artifacts of a past civilization are collected. While waiting for the tide to ebb, he meets the locals and religious morons.

A very gloomy picture of Konstantin Lopushansky not only raises the question of human influence on the environment, but also makes one think about spiritual values, opposing the cynicism of ordinary people to the religious openness of “morons”.

12. Through hardships to the stars

• USSR, 1980.
• Fantastic.
• Duration: 148 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 7, 2.

In the XXIII century, the spaceship of earthlings makes another patrol flight. Soviet cosmonauts discover an alien transport filled with the bodies of dead clones, among which the only survivor is the artificial girl Niya. She is delivered to Earth, trying to find out the reasons for what happened. And at the same time they introduce Niya to human culture.

Today it may seem that there is too much Soviet ideology in this picture, which was the norm for fiction in the 70s and 80s. But still, most of the film is devoted to a very interesting topic - the clash of different cultures and attitudes towards ecology.

11. Mirror for the hero

• USSR, 1987.
• Science fiction, drama.
• Duration: 139 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 7, 5.

At the concert, two young people meet - Sergei Pshenichny and Andrei Nemchinov. In a strange way, both heroes move from the 80s to 40 years ago, and they have to live the same day over and over again. Friends understand that they need to fix the past in order to break the cycle.

At the mention of the time loop, many people immediately think of American Groundhog Day. However, in the USSR, five years earlier, a film appeared on the same topic - perhaps a more serious and even philosophical one.

10. Amphibian man

• USSR, 1961.
• Science fiction, drama, melodrama.
• Duration: 92 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 7, 5.

Among the fishermen and pearl divers in Buenos Aires, there is a legend about a monster called the sea devil. In fact, this is a wonderful young man, whom a talented scientist transplanted gills to to save him from death. Once Ichthyander falls in love with the beautiful Gutierre, and meanwhile cruel businessmen open a hunt for him.

Soviet directors Gennady Kazansky and Vladimir Chebotarev managed to film a book that even Walt Disney was afraid to take on. Moreover, the underwater filming was really carried out in the sea, and not in the pool, using many tricks. The result is a timeless, visually and at the same time touching picture.

9. City of Zero

• USSR, 1988.
• Science fiction, drama, comedy.
• Duration: 103 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 7, 6.

An engineer from Moscow Alexei Varakin arrives in a provincial city on a business trip. Every day he is faced with more and more strangeness of life: the secretary at the factory can work completely naked, and the cook shoots himself, because the guest refused dessert. And getting out of a strange place is almost impossible.

In this phantasmagoric film by Karen Shakhnazarov, they found allusions to perestroika and the illogicality of the regime. Although, perhaps, the author just wanted to show a world in which madness seems to be the norm.

8. Moscow - Cassiopeia

• USSR, 1973.
• Science fiction, adventure.
• Duration: 83 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 7, 6.

On the spaceship "ZARYA" a team of astronauts is sent to the star Alpha Cassiopeia. Since the one-way flight should take 27 years, all members of the expedition are 14-year-old schoolchildren. However, due to a program failure, they arrive at their destination much earlier than planned.

"Moscow - Cassiopeia" - the first part of the dilogy. In the second film "Teens in the Universe", the heroes fly to the planet and face the local inhabitants there. Initially, the authors wanted to show all this in one picture - they divided the action only because of the too long timing.

7. Letters from a dead person

• USSR, 1986.
• Science fiction, drama.
• Duration: 88 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 7, 7.

After a nuclear war, Nobel laureate Larsen lives in a museum dungeon. He tries to understand the constant desire of humanity for self-destruction and talks about it with various survivors.

The same Konstantin Lopushansky, who shot "The Museum Visitor", created perhaps the most terrible film in Soviet cinema. The plot mixes post-apocalyptic pictures and philosophical reasoning of the protagonist. And all this in an atmosphere of complete doom.

6. Adventure Electronics

• USSR, 1979.
• Science fiction, adventure, comedy.
• Duration: 215 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 7, 9.

Engineer Gromov creates an incredible robot Electronics, which looks like a schoolboy Seryozha Syroezhkin. Soon, the prototype gets acquainted with its copy and decides to switch places with it. Meanwhile, criminals hunt for Electronics to use it for their own purposes.

According to the original plan, both main characters were to be played by one young actor. But then the authors decided to find twins in order to simplify the work with editing and combined shooting. After numerous auditions, Volodya and Yura Torsuevs were chosen. The roles of Syroezhkin and Elektronika instantly made them stars. True, the brothers' further acting career did not work out.

5. Solaris

• USSR, 1972.
• Science fiction, drama.
• Duration: 169 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 7, 9.

Psychologist Chris Kelvin joins a team of researchers at the orbital station off the planet Solaris, whose surface is made up of an intelligent ocean. The hero must figure out why one of the scientists committed suicide. But upon arriving at the scene, Kelvin discovers something incredible.

Screening the famous novel by Stanislav Lem, director Andrei Tarkovsky focused on the analysis of the hero's experiences, and not on the study of the new world. As a result, the author of the book was dissatisfied with this version. But viewers believe that this is one of the best science fiction films.

4. Kin-dza-dza

• USSR, 1986.
• Science fiction, drama, comedy.
• Duration: 135 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 7, 9.

Foreman Vladimir Nikolaevich and student Gedevan accidentally meet an alien on the street, who transports them to the planet Plyuk in the Kin-dza-dza galaxy. There, the heroes meet Uefa and B, who agree to help them return home for payment in the form of matches. But to do this, they need to get gravicappu - a device that allows their pepelatsu to move to any point in the universe.

Although Georgy Danelia made his film in the form of a witty comedy, sold in quotes, it is impossible not to notice a lot of sensitive topics in the plot. The inhabitants of Plyuk converted all the seas into fuel, destroying nature. And in their society there is a very rigid hierarchy.

3. Stalker

• USSR, 1979.
• Science fiction, drama.
• Duration: 163 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 8, 0.

After the fall of the meteorite or, possibly, the visit of aliens on Earth, a mysterious Zone was formed, in which strange things are happening. The authorities denied access to it. But the foolish Stalker secretly leads the Professor and the Writer to the room in which the most cherished desires are fulfilled.

The film is based on the Strugatsky brothers' novel Roadside Picnic. But Andrei Tarkovsky here, too, greatly changed the plot (with the participation of the authors themselves), turning crime fiction into a philosophical parable about the very essence of man.

2. Guest from the future

• USSR, 1984.
• Science fiction, adventure.
• Duration: 317 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 8, 2.

The sixth grader Kolya from an ordinary Soviet school goes for kefir and discovers a time machine in an abandoned house. Moving into the future, he ruins the plans of the space pirates who wanted to steal the mind reader. Now the villains are hunting Kolya, who has returned to the past. And they are followed by a young but very smart Alisa Selezneva.

Perhaps the most famous and popular film adaptation of children's fiction by Kir Bulychev with live actors. By the way, not everyone knows that Natasha Guseva played Alice not only in this multi-part film: in 1987 the full-length film "The Purple Ball" was released. A year later, The Island of the Rusty General appeared, but a new actress, Katya Prizhbiljak, had already starred there.

1. A dog's heart

• USSR, 1988.
• Science fiction, drama, comedy.
• Duration: 136 minutes.
• "KinoPoisk": 8, 3.

The brilliant professor Philip Philipovich Preobrazhensky transplants the human pituitary gland to the dog, and soon it turns into a human. But Sharik inherits the features of the original owner of the pituitary gland - the criminal Klim Chugunkin.

Based on the story of the same name by Mikhail Bulgakov, the film has become one of the main sources of witty quotes. The secret of such success is not only in the bright author's text, but also in the magnificent actors who fully fit into their roles.

By the way, in order to stylize the picture for the cinema of the 20s, the entire film was shot on black and white film, and then reprinted on a color positive, having received a characteristic yellowish color.