Alexander Fedorov Soviet science fiction movies in the mirror of film criticism and viewers’ opinions Moscow, 2021 Fedorov A.V. Soviet science fiction movies in the mirror of film criticism and viewers’ opinions. Moscow: Information for all, 2021. 162 p. The monograph provides a wide panorama of the opinions of film critics and viewers about Soviet movies of the fantastic genre of different years. For university students, graduate students, teachers, teachers, a wide audience interested in science fiction. Reviewer: Professor M.P. Tselysh. © Alexander Fedorov, 2021. 1 Table of Contents Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………3 1. Soviet science fiction in the mirror of the opinions of film critics and viewers ………………………… 4 2. "The Mystery of Two Oceans": a novel and its adaptation ………………………………………………….. 117 3. "Amphibian Man": a novel and its adaptation ………………………………………………………………….. 122 3. "Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin": a novel and its adaptation …………………………………………….. 126 4. Soviet science fiction at the turn of the 1950s — 1960s and its American screen transformations……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 130 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….… 136 Filmography (Soviet fiction Sc-Fi films: 1919—1991) ……………………………………………………………. 138 About the author …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 150 References……………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………….. 155 2 Introduction This monograph attempts to provide a broad panorama of Soviet science fiction films (including television ones) in the mirror of the opinions of film critics and viewers. Certain parts of the text of the book were pre-tested on Yandex platforms, the portals Kino- pressa.ru, Kino-teatr.ru, on Facebook (where the author often received good corrections and comments; in particular, I Thank you for the constructive comments of Sergey Kudryavtsev and Igor Arkadiev). Unfortunately, the distribution data for not all Soviet feature films (and there were more than seven thousand) are available (there are, for example, serious gaps in the distribution data of the 1920s — 1930s), therefore, the number of viewers for the first year of screening is indicated not in all cases. The number of millions of viewers in the first year of film distribution (on average for one episode, if there were several) is given, according to a number of sources (Belenky, 2019; For Success!, 1967; 1968; Furikov, 1990; Kudryavtsev, 1998; What viewers are watching, 1987; 1988; 1989, Zemlyanukhin, Segida, 1996, etc.). It was not possible to collect data on some science fiction short—length films (in particular, not on all of the course and diploma films shot at VGIK). The selection of feature films was not always easy. So, as a rule, films in the genres of fairy tales and mysticism were not taken into account ("Old Man Hottabych", "The Tale of Lost Time", "Snow Tale", "Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors", "Magic Robe", "Above the Rainbow", "Viy" , "The Mystery of the Iron Door", "Flight to the Land of Monsters", "Mister Designer", "Hotel "Eden", "Overnight. Friday", "Dina", "Family of Ghouls", "Revolt the City, Count!", "Lumi", etc.). The book did not include adventure films (for example, "Sannikov's Land", "Island of Lost Ships"), dramas, parables, detective stories and comedies (for example, "Return from Orbit", "Ladder", "Dogs", "The Cure Against Fear", "Entrance to the Labyrinth", "Gray Disease", "Thirty—Three"), where the fantastic line was manifested very conditionally. Not included in the book and Soviet films of the 1920s — 1930s, which represent on the screen a hypothetical response of the USSR to the military aggression of Western opponents ("If There is War Tomorrow", etc.). The book does not include science fiction cartoons. The book uses fragments of viewers' reviews on the portals Kino-teatr.ru, Kinopoisk, etc. as illustrations of the views of the audience about Soviet science fiction films. In the filmography of Soviet science fiction films, as a rule, the year when the film or series was released on cinema / television is indicated. I hope that the material of this book may be of interest to higher education teachers, students, graduate students, researchers, film critics, journalists, as well as a wide range of readers interested in the history of cinematography, problems of cinema, film criticism and film sociology. 3 1. Soviet science fiction in the mirror of the opinions of film critics and viewers Abduction of the Sorcerer. USSR, 1981. Director and screenwriter Gleb Selyanin (based on the novel of the same name by Kir Bulychev). Actors: Natalia Danilova, Yuri Demich, Vitaly Yushkov, Anatoly Abramov, Anatoly Slyassky, Ivan Krasko and others. TV premiere on August 5, 1983. Gleb Selyanin (1926—1984) has directed three dozen TV films, including the fantasy genre. In the sci-fi film “Abduction of the Sorcerer”, graduate student Anna, who lives in the 80s of the XX century, encounters strangers who assure her that they came here from the XVIII century... Reviews of the 21st century viewers about this film are generally positive: "This movie — that rare case when one's own fantasy turned out to be very close to the body, an outstanding, exemplary thing, I liked it very much! And somehow everything is timely and in its place” (June). “It's interesting to watch and there is something to fantasize about at the end: what happened next with the heroes from the future and the “sorcerer”. ... The only thing that disappointed me a little— modern speech of heroes after moving in time” (Owl). Abduction of the Sorcerer. USSR, 1989. Directed by Victor Kobzev. Screenwriters Victor Kobzev, Kir Bulychev (based on the novel of the same name by Kir Bulychev). Actors: Julia Aug, Sergey Varchuk, Romualdas Ramanauskas, Victor Solovyov, Vladimir Gostyukhin, Andrey Boltnev, Lev Borisov and others. Victor Kobzev directed five full-length feature films and TV series. "Abduction of the Sorcerer"— his only one work in the fantasy genre. In the sci-fi film “Abduction of the Sorcerer”, graduate student Anna, who lives in the 80s of the XX century, encounters strangers who assure her that they came here from the XVIII century... Viewers' opinions about the cinnabar version of "Abduction of the Sorcerer" are rather contradictory: "The film is based on a very good, albeit not a masterpiece, fantastic story by Kir Bulychev, written during the heyday of his talent. ... One comment I have on this great film — the aliens look too mundane” (Alexander). “Awesome hack. He stopped watching from the scene when in the 13th century a girl in modern slippers kissing one of the besiegers. As for the idea — a strange approach: save on the basis of genius, and let the not so ingenious perish. And if so, why not start with Archimedes?" (Fred). Abdullajan, or Dedicated to Steven Spielberg. USSR, 1991. Directed by Zulfikar Musakov. Screenwriters Zulfikar Musakov, Rikhsiva Mukhamedzhanov. Actors: Tuti Yusupova, Rajab Adashev, Shukhrat Kayumov, Sergey Dreiden, Vladimir Menshov, Vladimir Tsvetov and others. Zulfikar Musakov directed fifteen full—length films of different genres, including the simple fantastic comedy "Abdullajan, or Dedicated to Steven Spielberg", which tells how an alien ship crashes and an alien boy finds himself in the Uzbek collective farm "Communism"... The opinions of XXI viewers about this film differ significantly: “The film is very cool, you just laugh at every frame. … This is one of my favorite films” (S. Zhuravleva). 4 “An incomparable film. Given the grim release timing, the comedy came out on time. The whole movie laughed. A very unusual genre — humorous fantasy” (D. Erokhin). “Rare bullshit. I tried to watch it through to the end, but by the end of the film the roof almost left the stupidity of what was happening on the screen”(Larek). Accident in Utinoozersk. USSR, 1989. Directed by Semyon Morozov. Screenwriter Leonid Treer. Actors: Evdokia Germanova, Lyubov Polishchuk, Vladimir Steklov, Alexander Pankratov-Cherny, Victor Ilyichev, Alexander Pashutin, Alexander Belyavsky, Valentin Smirnitsky, Boris Novikov, Natalia Krachkovskaya, Yuri Prokopovich, Svetlana Starikova, etc. Semyon Morozov directed two full-length feature films, one of them is the fantastic comedy "Accident in Utinoozersk", where a prehistoric lizard suddenly appears in an ordinary Soviet lake... Semyon Morozov managed to put together a good acting ensemble, but, in my opinion, he did not have enough comedic gift for a full-length film, although, probably, a funny short film could have been made from the proposed material... Adventure of Electronic. USSR, 1979. Directed by Konstantin Bromberg. Screenwriter Evgeny Veltistov (based on his own book). Actors: Yuri Torsuev, Vladimir Torsuev, Vasily Modest, Oksana Alekseeva, Maxim Kalinin, Dmitry Maksimov, Evgeny Livshits, Valeria Soluyan, Nikolay Grinko, Elizaveta Nikishchikhina, Vladimir Basov, Nikolai Karachentsov, Evgeny Vesnik, Maya Bulgakova, Nikolai Makoyarsky, Roza Yuri Chernov, Lev Perfilov and others. TV premiere: May 2, 1980. Konstantin Bromberg (1939—2020) directed only four full-length feature films, two of which — "Adventures of Electronic" and "The Wizards" — immediately fell in love with the multimillion TV audience. In the year of its appearance on TV screens, "Adventures of Electronic" seemed purely childish fantasy with a funny plot and pleasant music. But after several decades, this film not only became a cult, but also served as the basis for several dissertations and cultural studies. And already in the 21st century, culturologist Ilya