Movie review – “Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet” (1965) *

In the 50s it became popular to buy Japanese and Italian films and recut/dub them for US audiences, sometimes even throwing in some new footage. In the 60s the Cold War had cooled down sufficiently for Hollywood to turn its eye to Russia – the Soviets were churning out some space flicks with some pretty nifty effects, and the fact the lead characters spent a lot of time in space ships and space suits made dubbing a bit easier.

Writer director Pavel Klushantsev made a film in the early 60s called Planet of Storms which has been recut here. It’s about two rocket ships which crash on Venus and the attempts of the crew members to hook up, fighting various creatures (including dinosaurs) and the elements. The effects are fairly impressive; the rest of it isn’t too crash hot.

There was some formidable names on the film: Curtis Harrington was the new “director” (under a nom de plume); Stephanie Rothman worked as a producer and Roger Corman was involved in a producing capacity. In addition, Basil Rathbone and Faith Domerge appear in new (not very good) sequences – their acting isn’t much better than the dubbed Russians. Corman later used the footage on Queen of Blood (also directed by Harrington) and Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women.