Natalia Voinova

The Cold War in Science Fiction

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Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s

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disseminate knowledge

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest

Voinova, Natalia: The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction
Films in the 1950s, Hamburg, Anchor Academic Publishing 2013
Original title of the thesis: «buchtitel»
Buch-ISBN: 978-3-95489-058-3
PDF-eBook-ISBN: 978-3-95489-558-8
Druck/Herstellung: Anchor Academic Publishing, Hamburg, 2013
Additionally: University College London, London, Engand, Bachelor Thesis, 01.04.2012

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The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest

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The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest







Abstract
‹Ž‹•’‘Ž‹–‹ ƒŽƒ•‹–Šƒ•–Š‡’‘™‡”–‘•–ƒ‰‡ ‘–‡’‘”ƒ”›’”‘„Ž‡•–Š”‘—‰Š–Š‡
Ž‡•‘ˆ‹’‘••‹„Ž‡‡˜‡–•ǡ‹–‹ƒ‰‹‡•–Š‡‘”‡–‹ ƒŽˆ—–—”‡•‘—–‘ˆ’”‡•‡–‹••—‡•ǤŠ‡
‡••ƒ›™‹ŽŽ ‘’ƒ”‡–Š‡—•‡‘ˆ• ‹‡ ‡ˆ‹ –‹‘‹ ‹‡ƒ‹–Š‡ƒ†–Š‡‹–‡†
–ƒ–‡•‘ˆ–Š‡Žƒ–‡ͳͻͷͲ•ƒ†ͳͻ͸Ͳ•–‘ ‘‹ ‹†‡™‹–Š–Š‡’‡”‹‘†‘ˆ†‡Ǧ–ƒŽ‹‹•ƒ–‹‘
ƒ†–Šƒ™‹–Š‡ǡƒ†Žƒ–‡ ƒ”–Š›‹•‹–Š‡‹–‡†–ƒ–‡•Ǥ
Š‡ ‰‡”‡ ’”‘˜‹†‡• ƒ ‘’’‘”–—‹–› –‘ ‡š’”‡•• –Š‡ • ‹‡–‹ˆ‹  •–ƒ†Ǧ‘ˆˆ „‡–™‡‡ –Š‡
–™‘’‘™‡”•–Š”‘—‰Šˆ‹ –‹‘ǡ‹–‹•ƒŽ•‘ƒ˜‡Š‹ Ž‡ˆ‘”†‹••‡‹ƒ–‹‘‘ˆ‹†‡ƒ•ƒ†’”‘’ƒǦ
‰ƒ†ƒǤ ‘•–Ǧͳͻͷ͸ǡ ™Š‡ –Š‡ ’‡”‹‘† ‘ˆ †‡Ǧ–ƒŽ‹‹•ƒ–‹‘ ‘ˆˆ‹ ‹ƒŽŽ› „‡‰ƒǡ • ‹‡ ‡ ˆ‹ Ǧ
–‹‘•ƒ™ƒ ƒ”‡ˆ—ŽŽ› ”ƒˆ–‡†”‡„‹”–Šƒ•ƒ–‘‘Ž–‘”‡ˆŽ‡ ––Š‡•‘ ‹ƒŽ‹•–‹†‡ƒŽƒ†“—ƒ•‹Ǧ
”‡Ž‹‰‹‘—• ˆƒ‹–Š ‹ • ‹‡ ‡’”‘‘–‡† „›–Š‡ƒ”–›Ǥ  ‹‡ ‡ˆ‹ –‹‘—‹“—‡Ž› †‡ƒ†•
ˆ‘”ƒ‹ƒ‰‹ƒ–‹˜‡˜‹‡™‘ˆ–Š‡ˆ—–—”‡ǡ™Š‹ Š ‘””‡•’‘†•™‹–Š–Š‡ƒ”š‹•–Ǧ‡‹‹•–
ˆ—–—”‡Ǧ‘”‹‡–‡†‹†‡‘Ž‘‰›Ǥ
Š‡ˆ‡ƒ”‘ˆ‡š–‡”ƒŽ‹ˆŽ—‡ ‡ˆ”‘–Š‡‡‡›ˆ‘”„‘–Š ‘—–”‹‡•”‡•—Ž–•‹Š‡ƒ˜‹Ž›
‹†‡‘Ž‘‰‹ ƒŽ ‹‡ƒǡ‡•’‡ ‹ƒŽŽ›‹–Š‡• ‹Ǧˆ‹‰‡”‡ƒ•ƒ‹ƒ‰‹‡†”‡ˆŽ‡ –‹‘‘ˆ ‘Ǧ
–‡’‘”ƒ”›‹••—‡•‘–‘ƒˆ‹ –‹‘ƒŽˆ—–—”‡ǤŠ‡–Š‡‡•ˆ‘”‡”‹ ƒ• ‹‡ ‡ˆ‹ –‹‘‘ˆ
–Š‹•’‡”‹‘†ƒ”‡Š›’‡”„‘Ž‹•‡†‘•–‡”•ƒ†‹˜ƒ•‹‘ǡ™Š‹ Š”‡ˆŽ‡ ––Š‡ˆ‡ƒ”‘ˆ–Š‡
‘–Š‡”‡••‘ˆ–Š‡‘˜‹‡–‹‘ƒ†‹–•–Š”‡ƒ–‘†‘‡•–‹ ‹†‡ƒŽ•Ǥ‘˜‹‡–• ‹‡ ‡ˆ‹ –‹‘
ˆ‹Ž•ˆ‘ —•‘–Š‡Š‡”‘‹ ‘˜‹‡–ƒǡ™Š‘ˆ”‡“—‡–Ž›”‡ ‡‹˜‡• ƒŽŽ•ˆ‘”Š‡Ž’ˆ”‘

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‘—–‡”•’ƒ ‡ƒ†‘˜‡” ‘‡•‰”‡ƒ––”‹ƒŽ•–‘•ƒ˜‡–Š‘•‡‘–Ž‹˜‹‰‹—–‘’‹ƒǤ

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest



Table of Contents
Ǥ †‡‘Ž‘‰‹‡•ƒ† ‹‡ ‡ ‹ –‹‘ǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤͳ
Ǥ–Š‡ ‘‡ ”‘–ǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤͳͳ
ǤŠ‡”‡‘ƒ ƒ• ‘‡‡ˆ‘”‡ǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤʹʹ
Ǥ‘ Ž—•‹‘ǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤ͵ʹ

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‹„Ž‹‘‰”ƒ’Š›ǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤǤ͵Ͷ

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I. Ideologies and Science Fiction
 ‹‡ ‡ ˆ‹ –‹‘ ‹• ƒŽ™ƒ›• ’‘Ž‹–‹ ƒŽ ƒ• ‹– Šƒ• –Š‡ ’‘™‡” –‘ •–ƒ‰‡ ‘–‡’‘”ƒ”› ’”‘„Ǧ
Ž‡• –Š”‘—‰Š –Š‡ Ž‡• ‘ˆ ‹’‘••‹„Ž‡ ‡˜‡–•Ǣ ’‘’—Žƒ” • ‹‡ ‡ ˆ‹ –‹‘ ‹ƒ‰‹‡• –Š‡‘Ǧ
”‡–‹ ƒŽˆ—–—”‡•ƒ”‹•‹‰‘—–‘ˆ’”‡•‡– ‘†‹–‹‘•ǤŠ‡•’”‡ƒ†‘ˆ†‘‡•–‹ –‡Ž‡˜‹•‹‘•
ƒ† ‹‡ƒ•‡š–‡†•–Š‡˜‹•—ƒŽƒ†”‡ƒŽ‹•–‹ ‡†‹—–‘ƒŽƒ”‰‡ƒ—†‹‡ ‡ǡƒ†‹–Š‡
ƒ•‡‘ˆ• ‹‡ ‡ˆ‹ –‹‘ ”‡ƒ–‡•ƒ‘—–Ž‡–ˆ‘”‹†‡‘Ž‘‰‹‡•–‘„‡†‹••‡‹ƒ–‡†–‘‹ƒ‰‹ƒǦ
–‹˜‡›‘—–Š•™Š‘ƒ”‡–Š‡„‹‰‰‡•– ‘•—‡”•‘ˆ• ‹Ǧˆ‹ǤŠ‡‰‡”‡’”‡•—’’‘•‡••’‡ –ƒ Ǧ
—Žƒ” ˜‹•—ƒŽ• ƒ† ‡šƒ‰‰‡”ƒ–‡† ’Ž‘–•ǡ –Š‡•‡ ‹ ‘„‹ƒ–‹‘ ™‹–Š ’ƒ”ƒ‘‹† •‘ ‹ƒŽ ƒ––‹Ǧ
–—†‡•”‡•—Ž–‹–Š‡‘•–™‹†‡Ž› ”‹–‹ ‹•‡†ƒ†ƒ†‘”‡†’‡”‹‘†‘ˆ‡ƒ”Ž›• ‹‡ ‡ˆ‹ –‹‘
‹‡ƒǡ–Š‡ͳͻͷͲ•ƒ†‡ƒ”Ž›ͳͻ͸Ͳ•ǤŠ‡‘˜‹‡–‹‘ƒ†–Š‡‹–‡†–ƒ–‡•’”‘˜‹†‡
ƒˆ‘ —•ˆ‘”–Š‹••–—†›‘ƒ ‘—–‘ˆ•‡˜‡”ƒŽˆƒ –‘”•ǣ–Š‡’ƒ ‡ƒ ‡‹•–Š‡‹’‡–—•ˆ‘”
ƒ‹ ”‡ƒ•‡‹• ‹‡–‹ˆ‹ ’Ž‘–•ˆ‘”„‘–Š ‘—–”‹‡•ǡ–Š‡‹†‡‘Ž‘‰‹ ƒŽ‘’’‘•‹–‹‘–‘‡ƒ Š
‘–Š‡”ƒŽŽ‘™•ˆ‘”ƒ ‘’ƒ”‹•‘ǡƒ†‘˜‡”•–ƒ–‡‡–‘ˆŠ‘’‡•ƒ†ˆ‡ƒ”•‹„‘–Š ‘—Ǧ
–”‹‡•’”‘˜‹†‡—‹–‡–‹‘ƒŽƒ†”‡˜‡ƒŽ‹‰ ƒ”‹ ƒ–—”‡•‘ˆ–Š‡‰”‡ƒ–‡” ‘—‹–›Ǥ
Fanciful dreams of aliens and technological advancements represented in science
fiction cinema and literature increased in popularity in the 1950s and 1960s both in the
United States and the Soviet Union. However grand and imaginative the plots, cinema
remained rooted by the gravity of earthly concerns as both governments toiled to create

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an ideology aimed against the other. The technological nature of the Cold War is defined
by the arms race, although following the disillusionment of WWII and the horrific discoveries about the effects of nuclear weapons, both countries had their eyes turned to the
stars in the early stages of the conflict. A large part of American science fiction in the 50s
and 60s looked to the stars in fear of alien invasion, while Soviet films dreamed of space

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest

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exploration and utopia. The Soviet Union never reached quite the same level of Cold War
hysteria as the United States, much of the science fiction of the late 50s and 60s focused
on utopian futures reached by combination of socialism and technological advancement;
while in the US “the Cold War was largely responsible for the prominence of alien invasion and post apocalypse narratives.”1
Writing in the midst of Hollywood’s streak with science fiction, Susan Sontag
recognises the banality of the repetitive invasion-centred plots and vapid dialogue; she
identifies “science fiction films are not about science…they are about disaster” and holds
no social criticism.2 On the contrary, science fiction as a genre is able to engage with sensitive social and political issues using devices like “the parable, the allegory and the grotesque” thereby escaping scandal and censorship.3 In addition Sontag states the paranoid
claims of contemporary science fiction stem from the greater collective nightmare: fears
of the unknown, foreign invasion, and enemies from within. However science fiction
films were not simply a direct result of collective paranoia, the genre offered social criticism from different political viewpoints: left-wing films valorised the scientist and criticised fear of the amorphous unknown, while films with a right-wing agenda augmented
the fear and stressed the importance of the military. Science fiction allowed for an allegorical staging of contemporary problems through the lens of improbable plots, subhuman floods of evil masses, hyperbolized beasts, and unseen threats all represented unde-

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sirable aliens and reflected the public’s fear of infiltration, subversion, invasion, and de 

1

Booker, Keith. "Science Fiction and the Cold War." A Companion to Science Fiction. Ed. David
Seed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2005. 171.
2
Sontag, Susan. "The Imagination of Disaster." Awake in the Dark: An Anthology of American
Film Criticism, 1915 to the Present. Ed. David Denby. New York: Vintage, 1977. 266.
3
Marsh, Rosalind J. Soviet Fiction since Stalin: Soviet Politics, and Literature. London: Croom
Helm, 1986. 228.

ʹ

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest


struction of national welfare.4 Two opposing views are considered in this essay: whether
science fiction films reflected the paranoid social climate of the witch-hunt and foreign
infiltration into American homes, or if it dared to hint at liberal views otherwise opposed
by HUAC and Joseph McCarthy.
The difficult years of WWII allied the United States and the USSR to fight a
common enemy - the Nazis, a collaboration that Hollywood picked up in pro-Soviet films
such as Mission to Moscow (1943). This union was short-lived, and at the 1946 speech to
Voters of the Stalin Electoral District, General Secretary Joseph Stalin announced communism and capitalism as incompatible systems, the same year George Kennan’s Long
Telegram promoted a cautious approach to relationships with the Soviet Union. Political
consultant Bernard Baruch in 1947 stated, “we are in the midst of a cold war,” regarding
the changing relationship with the USSR, the same year the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) begins investigating Hollywood for communist insurgents
they feared were being cultivated there.5 The trials ended in the successful blacklisting of
many filmmakers, and although Hollywood films did not officially filter through government censors before screening, the fear of irreversible public defamation frames films
of this period to expressing a particular government-approved ideology.
The United States lost the monopoly on the atomic bomb in 1949 when the Soviet Union
conducted the first test for their nuclear warhead; this produced a wave of nuclear war

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hysteria in the West. The 1953 execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for espionage
 

4

For more on fears of immigration explored through science fiction see
Novoa, Juan-Bruce. "Paradigms of Attitudes Toward Immigration: Science Fiction Films as Allegories in the Mid-Century." Aesthetic Practices and Politics in Media, Music, and Art:
Performing Migration. Ed. R. G. Davis, Dorothea Fischer-Hornung, and Johanna C. Kardux. New York: Routledge, 2011.
ͷRadosh, Ronald, and Allis Radosh. Red Star over Hollywood: The Film Colony's Long Romance
with the Left. San Francisco: Encounter, 2005. 53.

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justified a paranoid fear of enemies being fostered on native soil, and also a cautious attitude toward scientists who may lose sight of patriotism for the sake of scientific advancement. The Hollywood blacklist officially started in 1947 after the HUAC investigation to uncover what Robert Stripling, the chief investigator, considered being the Communists attempt to influence the Screen Writers Guild and the content of films. According to Stripling, the studios made no real effort to remove Communists from the industry,
but rather had allowed them “to gain influence and power” and to “successfully inject
propaganda into films.”6 The seeds of suspicion planted in 1947 came into fruition in the
1950s, when many writer, performers, and directors were ostracised from the industry.
By the end of the 1950s writers like Dalton Trumbo appeared in film credits and retrospectively received credit for work done in the 50s under pseudonyms, however many of
the blacklisted actors and writers had difficulty getting work all through the 60s. This
ruthless exclusion of talented writers on the basis of revolutionary political sympathies
doubtlessly resulted in many less talented writers and film-makers exercising extreme
caution and expressing ideas they assume to be acceptable to the anti-communist gov-

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ernment.7

 
6

Radosh and Radosh. Red Star over Hollywood. 141-2.
It is difficult to draw a definite conclusion that the difficulties actors and writers had in the
1960s are a result of paranoia of infiltration by Communists, or an issue with the job market and
the ten-year gap in their working history during the years of the official blacklist. For more on the
Hollywood blacklist consult Radosh and Radosh, Red Star over Hollywood.

7

Ͷ

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest


American science fiction cinema stems from 1930s horror, such as Frankenstein (1931)
and The Mummy (1932), horror films about small-scale disasters affecting towns or individuals. Science fiction films of the 50s and 60s also focus on disaster on a small-town
scale, but the stakes are always global – if the heroes fail, life as we know it will seize.
The next section explores the theme of invasion and paranoically exaggerated aliens as
representative of the Us versus Them binary and the fear of foreign infiltration. Traditionally, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
- a dark comedy and an overt satire - is thought to be a turning point in Hollywood’s paranoid fear of nuclear war and scientific development.8 Although fear of nuclear destruction and espionage abated in cinema, the fear of invasion by unknown forces remained,
and a new fear of travelling to outer space to discover alien worlds to be unwelcoming
and dangerous replaced it.
Many of the American films described in this study are produced by American International Pictures, a production company active between 1954-1980 it specialised in
independently produced low-budget films aimed at a specific target audience to maximise
profit; founding member Samuel Arkoff, postulated the most profitable audience is 19year old males.9 Sources are unclear about this, but most likely in 1963-4, the studio acquired a number of Soviet films including Planet of Storms (1962), The Sky is Calling
(1959), and Toward the Dream (1963).10 The first two films were dubbed and remade

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into Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965), and Battle Beyond the Sun (1964) respec 
8

This view is shared in several texts, and closely inspected in Keith Booker’s Monsters, Mushroom Clouds, and the Cold War: American Science Fiction and the Roots of Postmodernism,
1946-1964. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2001.
9
McGee, Mark. Fast and Furious: The Story of American International Pictures. Jefferson, NC:
McFarland, 1984. 15.
10
 
(1962),    (1959) and    (1963)

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest

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tively, another remake of the former, Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968)
retold the remade story with additional footage shot by the studio, and additional scenes
reused from The Sky is Calling and Toward the Dream. Furthermore, Queen of Blood
(1966) heavily relied on the plot from Toward the Dream as well as scenes from The Sky
is Calling.
The ideology of the Soviet Union in the 1950s, rather than dwelling on the horror
of over twenty million lives lost to the war, focused on science as the vehicle for achieving communist utopia.11 The belief in scientific success provided a quasi-religious heir
for Stalinism in the post-Stalin period, “technological Prometheanism is a suitable philosophy for Soviet authors since it corresponds to the party’s requirement that the writer
be an optimist.”12 In a regime such as this, it is difficult to distinguish free choice from
ideology; however there does appear to be a genuine interest in the science fiction genre
from all classes and age-groups, even the increasing class of scientists.13 The genre is
consistent with the Marxist – Leninist future-oriented ideology: the goal of the Soviet Union was no less than to achieve utopia which implied total socialism and full realisation of
human potential. Prior Khrushchev’s Secret Speech of 1956, renouncing Stalinist oppression, the science fiction genre in literature was considered dangerous because of the potential for concealment of subversive views. Stalin’s fear of obscurity in literature manifested itself in the introduction of Socialist Realism as the underlying ideology to all crea-

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tive output, which mandated all art to represent Soviet everyday life, to be clear and un 

11

Krivosheev, G. F. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century. London:
Greenhill, 1997.
12
Marsh, Soviet Fiction since Stalin. 137.
13
“The genre of science fiction – both Soviet works and translations of foreign writers such as
Stanislav Lem, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke – has achieved greater popularity in the USSR than in almost any other country in the world.” Ibid. 138.

͸

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derstandable to the proletariat, and to remain realistic.14 Science fiction as an inherently
fanciful and obscure genre falls under none of the strict rules of Socialist Realism, however because of the emerging need to valorise and encourage scientific study, and reorientate people toward the future, the genre prospered after Khrushchev came into power. As early as 1921 the People’s Commissariat for Education published on the subjects
of art “agitation and propaganda acquire special edge and efficacy when decked in the
attractive and powerful forms of art,” a clear statement of intent to inject government ideology into popular forms of art.15 The simple reality of submitting all films to censors for
review before premier ensured that all material viewed in cinema adhered to acceptable
ideology and acted as state propaganda, regardless of the director’s original intention.
The Soviet regime, as a myth-making ideology, crafted and disseminated flattering stories about leadership, military feats, and industrial success; the science fiction genre offered carte blanche for myths of cosmic proportions. Prior to the popularisation of
what in Russian is called ‘science fantasy’ or science fiction, a proto-genre translated as
‘science fictional literature’16 developed. These were stories about real scientific discoveries or speculations on scientific developments often written by scientists to educate
public. This genre, although under close watch from censorship committees, gained a
niche following of scientists who read for educational purposes. Although the stories
aimed to be fictional, a real or believable scientific development always served as the

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foundation for speculation; frequently other members of the scientific community would
 

14

The Soviet aesthetic was defined by Socialist Realism as early as 1932 in an article in the Literary Gazette, which stated “the masses demand of an artist honesty, truthfulness, and a revolutionary socialist realism in the representation of the proletarian revolution.”
Bown, Matthew Cullerne. Art under Stalin. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1991. 89.
15
James, C. V. Soviet Socialist Realism; Origins and Theory. New York: St. Martin's, 1973. vii.
ͳ͸Ǯː˃˖˚ːˑ˘˖ˇˑˉˈ˔˕ˈːː˃ˢˎˋ˕ˈ˓˃˕˖˓˃ǯ

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write to journals correcting mistakes in the science and proving speculations unfeasible.17
These stories included theoretical applications of contemporary discoveries, as well as
accounts of scientists achieving extraordinary feats in the present day. Despite the long
history of science fiction in the Soviet Union, beginning with Aleksander Bogdanov’s
1908 novel The Red Star, about a socialist utopia on Mars, and one of the earliest films
about space travel Aelita (1924), the 1930s had a low output of traditional science fiction
literature due to Stalin’s distrust of the genre: it demands freedom to imagine which was
not fostered under Stalinism, and did not promote productive socialist activity such as
building cities and working in factories integral to Socialist Realist ethos. In the 1940s
and early 1950s writers dwelled on the subject of the war and Soviet wartime heroes, only in the mid 1950s with Khrushchev’s cultural thaw foreign science fiction literature
gained popularity and Soviet science fiction writers gained an audience.18 The AllRussian Conference on Science Fiction and Adventure Stories held in 1958 celebrated the
achievements of science fiction writers, but underlined the need for science fiction to remain realistic, “plots were not permitted to defy the known limits of science,” therefore
serious engagement with time travel and parallel universes was discouraged, and not seen
in films until 1973 with Moscow-Cassiopeia and Ivan Vasilevich Changes Profession
 

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17

For more detailed engagement with science fiction literature in the Soviet Union consult: Griffiths, John. Three Tomorrows: American, British and Soviet Science Fiction. London: Macmillan, 1980.
18
The popularity of science fiction in the Soviet Union cannot be underestimated, after Khrushchev’s Secret Speech of 1956 “Major publishing houses formed divisions devoted exclusively to
Science Fiction, both original … and translated. SF titles were produced in print runs of more
than 100,000 copies a year. Collections came out devoted mainly or exclusively to SF….At the
peak of this boom, various writers’ organizations formed separate sections of SF authors; SF
clubs, conducting conferences for readers and writers, appeared in many cities…published serious
discussions on the nature of the genre. With the exception of poetry, science fiction stories exceeded all other literature in popularity; and in the unfolding ideological struggle, the genre had
an importance second only to Samizdat’s [underground publishing]” Nudelman, Rafail. "Soviet
Science Fiction and the Ideology of Soviet Society." Science Fiction Studies 16.1 (1989). 49.

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which both use time-travel to drive the plot.19 Science fiction as any other artistic genre in
the Soviet Union had to adhere to the rules of Socialist Realism, and to remain ideologically party-oriented (the concept of partiynost’). However, it is naive to think of Soviet
science fiction as being strictly fabricated by government-produced ideology, neither is it
solely dictated by social and technological changes. Science fiction, especially in the
graphic depictions of film, acted as a conveying mechanism - the embodiment of the
state’s mythological promises of the future; social and technological changes also reflected on science fiction films, but only insofar as they reflected on ideology.20 A similar
point is true for American science fiction, although it was not closely controlled by the
state, it reflected an ideology rooted in a combination of social and political attitudes,
stemming both from authorities and popular outlook. Ideology, in this study, is not purely
a product of the ruling classes, but a combination of social and technological effects on
the ruling apparatus that in turn creates a mediated ideology.
The turning point for Soviet optimism in space exploration and technologically
achieved utopia was July 1969, when Apollo 11 became the first manned mission to land
on the Moon. After this event Soviet science fiction films were limited to stories aimed at
children and young teenagers, and later philosophy with the coming of Andrei Tarkovskiy and Konstantin Lopushanskii, while American science fiction finally looked to space
as a setting for adventure stories rather than unspeakable horrors. In 1975 the joint Apol 

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19

Moscow-Cassiopeia (-) followed the adventures of teenage cosmonauts
whose spaceship falls into a black hole taking them 27 years into the future. Although time-travel
is critical to the plot it does not gain a philosophical scale because Soviet Union of the future is
not shown, and the black hole is used only to drive the plot forward. Ivan Vasilyevich Changes
Profession (     ) is based on time-travel to the past, this also
avoids being problematic because it is a comedy. Therefore time-travel, even in later periods of
Russian fantasy, is made harmless through juvenile audience and comedy.
20
Nudelman, "Soviet Science Fiction and the Ideology of Soviet Society." 60.

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lo-Soyuz Test Project marked the end of the space race, as both countries collaborated on
a joint space flight. Therefore this research tracks the changes in attitude toward space
exploration in the very early stages of its technological and ideological development.
The paranoia of alien infiltration into American homes, as well as fear of invasion
represented through exaggerated monsters is analysed in section II. Section III explores
fear of galactic travel in American science fiction and Soviet utopian narratives, with a
close inspection of the two remakes: Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965) and Battle

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Beyond the Sun (1964).

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II. On the Home Front
As already mentioned the 1950s and early 1960s in the United States are defined by the
paranoid fear of external threat to American values caused by the fears left from WWII
and made worse by the propaganda of HUAC and Senator McCarthy. Although this attitude is generally termed the Red Scare, this is partially a misnomer to the actual fears at
the heart of the paranoia. As popular science fiction films visualise, the fear is not only of
communist invaders, but also of enemies within - not necessarily communists - but equally subversive and un-American. Science fiction threats can be classified in three categories: aliens, whose invasion is through infiltration, grotesque monsters from Earth, and
unfriendly creatures in outer space. Historian Cyndy Hendershot correctly notes the “hyperbolic anti-Communist propaganda” of the 1950s, manifests itself in “exaggerated metaphors” which science fiction monsters offered.21 Abominable invaders from Earth, either
prehistoric and somehow preserved, or mutated by nuclear testing included giant leeches,
gargantuan tarantulas, monstrous ants, a monster praying mantis, and demonic scorpions.22
Although in many films the connection to anti-Soviet propaganda is not explicit, it
is impossible to separate popular films created to interest the public, from the allencompassing fear of the ‘reds’ epitomised by the propaganda film Red Nightmare
(1962). In this film, Jerry, an average American father who takes his freedoms for grantCopyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

ed, suffers from a ‘red nightmare’ in which his environment has become communist: his
church has been converted into a Soviet museum, he is forced to work extra hours to meet
 
21

Hendershot, Cynthia. Anti-communism and Popular Culture in Mid-century America. Jefferson,
NC: McFarland, 2003. 53.
22
In order of mention the films are: Giant Leeches (1960), Tarantula (1955), Them! (1954), The
Deadly Mantis (1957), The Black Scorpion (1957).

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quotas, his daughter works on a collective farm and the American way of life is completely unsettled. The total invasion by the Soviets is difficult to represent in film, and not
.

as cinematic as the metaphorical invasion by horrendous monsters, which stand for the
unnaturalness of foreign beliefs. Similarly, Hendershot argues these monster films visualise the complete disaster of nuclear war, which is the unimaginable and the unrepresentable.23
Superficially the theme of aliens invading humans through brainwashing explores
the fear of the enemy who may not be radically evil, but indoctrinated by a radically evil
power; this evokes the idea that Communists are all brainwashed because the regime is
otherwise unthinkable. Two films engage with this theme most notably, It Came from
Outer Space (1953) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), the ideologies of the two
films are drastically different, and this will be explained shortly, although the premise for
the plot is almost identical. In It Came from Outer Space aliens who are hideous in appearance take over people’s consciousness in order to make contact without inciting fear.
Unfortunately the change in character is noticeable as their victims are vacant and dazed,
which causes an uprising in the small Arizona town where the aliens landed. Similarly,
Invasion of the Body Snatchers follows a small California town invaded by aliens and
replacing the citizens with copies devoid of emotions and humanity, they are soon revealed to be aliens who explain that life becomes simple when the complexity of emo-

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tions is removed therefore they are killing inhabitants of the town to replace them with
unfeeling and emotionally cleansed ‘pod-people.’ Like in Red Nightmare all but one in 
23

Hendershot, Cynthia. Paranoia, the Bomb, and 1950s Science Fiction Films. Bowling Green,
OH: Bowling Green State University Popular, 1999. 128.

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habitant is replaced, and driven to the brink of insanity by the sudden subversion of his
familiar environment. The suggestion in this kind of alien invasion narrative is that the
real danger is not in how different the aliens are to typical Americans, but precisely how
similar. Another parallel is the horror created through the lack of physical violence, It
Came from Outer Space and Invasion of the Body Snatchers both incite terror precisely
because the replaced humans are vacant and passive, superior in their emotional control
and organisation to the original humans. The social fear investigated in the narrative of
subverted human minds is that alien invaders are a danger due to the similarity between
the subversive alien threat and familiar life, a kind of dissonance created through representing familiar landscapes corrupted by alien presence. Anthropomorphic monsters of
terrestrial origins, such as the mutated Soviet scientist in The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961),
also fall in the narrative of internal threats, because they explore the worldly roots of
monsters.24 In an infiltration and brainwashing story the antagonism is not a clear Us v.
Them binary where the beasts are clearly demarcated by their grotesque appearance, but a
fear that They may be too much like Us, or even that in the fight against the enemy we
may become like the enemy. In fact the enemy may already be amongst us, a point made
explicit in the small-town settings of these plots: unsuspecting average American towns
in which nothing is secret are infiltrated without anyone noticing until it is too late. The
Rosenberg trial, spy stories, and propaganda films teaching citizens the arts of spotting

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communists made it possible for films to ride the coattails of infiltration fears and create
horror at low-budge costs, without special-effects monsters and buckets of blood. Moral
 

24

In this film a Soviet scientist is defecting from the USSR. After a close escape from KGB
agents on US soil, he escapes into a nuclear testing site which transforms him into an ape-like
beast. In an attempt to escape his Communist roots, his unnatural past catches up with him in a
physical manifestation of the primitive and dangerous Soviet order.

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dilemmas such as this do not exist in Soviet science fiction where alien threats are rare
and clearly physically defined.
Monsters from Earth, such as the giant insects mentioned earlier, engage with
paranoid exaggeration of invasion fears through grotesque monsters, but also deal with
several specific social issues. In Them! (1954), ants mutated to the size of automobiles
terrorize a small New Mexico town. When the colony is destroyed by the US Air Force,
several queen ants escape to establish colonies elsewhere. In order to escape mass panic,
the government attempts to conceal information about the presence of giant ants from the
people, and further military intervention is needed to destroy the remaining ant colonies.
As typical in science fiction of this period, the horror taking place in a small American
town has the potential for a country-wide catastrophe as the ants endangered Los Angeles
before their ultimate end with the aid of the military. After extensive research, all of the
films using a terrestrial monster metaphor require and get resolved with the aid of the
military, scientists are often to blame for the existence of the monsters as they test nuclear
weapons and experiment with genetic engineering, although frequently scientists aid the
military in taking down the monsters.25 The government often reacts to catastrophe by
becoming more totalitarian, declaring martial law, and keeping information from their
citizens. Like in brainwashing plots, this change in government strategy engages the fear
of becoming like the abhorrent Other in the fight against it.

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Despite the temptation to generalise, ideologically heavy science fiction of the
1950s does not blindly reiterate fears and government propaganda. Unlike the USSR, the
 

25

Films in which the military is the ultimate protagonist are Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959),
The Deadly Mantis (1957), The Blob (1958), Tarantula (1955), The Black Scorpion (1957). Notably many of these films are about monstrous insects, so as to separate their beastliness from
humanity and to ensure no sympathy is felt for the invader because insect phobias are the most
common among people.

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United States did not have a unified state goal, and ideology varied between presidents
and senators. Film historian Peter Biskind categorizes the ideologies as left-wing, rightwing, or centrist, and although this is also reductionist as it implies filmmakers had a
clear political affiliation they adhered to, for the sake of separating ideologies I shall use
the same categories. Left-wing films include those with idealist goals of global unification and unrestricted technological advancement, true examples of films with such liberal
ideology are rare as the danger of sounding too socialist was public disapproval, but they
would include the television series Star Trek (1966-2005) set in the future where a United
Federation of Planets exists and explores space together, a similar frontier principle is
promoted in Battle Beyond the Sun, and to an extent Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet
discussed closely in the next section. The famous film The Day the Earth Stood Still
(1951) is surprisingly liberal in the call to world cooperation; the military is rendered as
trigger-happy fools, while the scientists are depicted as the real leaders of the planet who
understand the catastrophic implications of militaristic politics. Biskind writers “in leftwing films, idealists … are not mad, evil, or foolish, but sensible. Utopians are realists,
while ‘realists’ are crackpots,” left-wing films appealed to scientists who believe science
and technology ought to be used for progress, and not military dominance.26
Centrist films recognised the external threat, but did not grow mistrustful, monster
films discussed earlier fall into this category as they represents the threat, for example in

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Them! through “linkage of nature, ants, women and Russians” as monsters of the id, uncontrollable, basic forces.27 The enemy in this case is easy to notice and the military heroically defends the American people. The films discourage behavioural extremes as over 
26

Biskind, Peter. Seeing Is Believing: How Hollywood Taught Us to Stop Worrying and Love the
Fifties. London: Bloomsbury, 2001. 154.
27
Ibid, 134.

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zealous women and passive nonbelievers are regularly punished, but do not encourage
vigilantism in the same way as right-wing films. Centrist films do not aim to problematize the enemy like left-wing films; the threat, whether terrestrial or alien, is physically
and characteristically apparent. If centrist films pose the external threat as the repressed,
violent id unleashed, right-wing science fiction depicts the Soviet menace as triumphant
superego: emotionless and robotic, functioning under a logically-derived, inhuman system.28 The Soviets in conservative propaganda pose an internal threat through wrongthinking which can penetrate the very fabric of American society without being noticed
until it is too late, as Invasion of the Body Snatchers graphically demonstrates with the
total invasion of a town by dispassionate aliens. The centre is turned on itself in films like
Body Snatchers, where trusted individuals like neighbours, telephone operators, and police, all become the unidentifiable enemy to national security. Aliens who possess humans to achieve their goals of domination are using the same tactics the Soviets were
feared to have and use on their citizens; fears of brainwashed people extend beyond science fiction. In the popular blockbuster The Manchurian Candidate (1962) a former military officer is brainwashed by the Soviets into murdering fellow POWs, and ultimately
the front-runner for the Presidential election who stands between a secret Soviet agent
and the United States presidency. Soviets are perceived as so vehement in their wrong
beliefs the only real cause could be brainwashing by the government.

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In right-leaning films, including some monster films categorized as centrist, science is an instrument of the military, the situations become dire where the only possible
action is military action, frequently scientists are represented as evil or removed from re 

28

Ibid.

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ality by their research, or are completely missing from the plot.29 In American films science are not deified like in Soviet science fiction as a way to reach utopia with technological advancement, this is due to the anti-intellectualism promoted during the period for
fear of the spreading of subversive political affiliations; utopian dreams are crushed by
the whimsical human condition. Despite this pessimism, even the most cataclysmic of
science fiction films end well, with the help of “either the staunch American individual or
the virtuous military-industrial complex,” even though death and wide-scale destruction
add cinematic horror, total national meltdown is averted.30 Invasion of the Body Snatchers was changed to have a more optimistic ending in which the last authentic inhabitant
of the town, Dr. Miles Bennell recounts his story to the authorities, the FBI and the military are informed and one can assume that all will be well. The studio changed it from the
intended ending with Bennell screaming on the side of the road as truckloads of pods pass
him on the way to nearby towns.31 The studio, not wanting to end on such a negative
note, changed the plot to avoid implications of nation-wide disaster. The alternative view
is that fear in Body Snatchers is not fuelled by communist threat, but by the introduction
of televisions into two thirds of homes in the 50s. Distrust to the media and fears of
brainwashing stem from the loss of individuality associated with television viewing.32
According to this view, Body Snatchers articulates fears of new technology and its ability
to degenerate humanity. This approach, although useful to consider, is anachronistic be 

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29

Dannenberg, Hilary. "Invasion Narratives and the Cold War in the 1950s American Science
Fiction Film." Between Fear and Freedom: Cultural Representations of the Cold War.
Ed. Kathleen Starck. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2010. 43.
30
Booker, Monsters, Mushroom Clouds, and the Cold War. 106.
31
For original ending see LaValley, Al. Invasion of the Body Snatchers. New Brunswick: Rutgers
University Press, 1989. 125.
32
Parkes, Michael. "Nthposition Online Magazine." There Will Be No Survivors... Oct. 2002.
Web. <http://www.nthposition.com/therewillbenosurvivors.php>

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cause fears of the media having negative effects on people are not prevalent in the 1950s
with the introduction of television, the number and quality of television programs was
limited, and educational value outweighed fears of brainwashing in this early period.
In order to understand the distinction between different ideological approaches to
similar scenarios it is useful to compare The Day the Earth Stood Still with Flight to
Mars (1951) and It Came from Outer Space with Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Terrestrial monster films such as Them! tend to be centrist and do not deviate from this ideological approach. Flight to Mars and The Day the Earth Stood Still both investigate types of
contact with extraterrestrials and share one theme: aliens are technologically and intellectually superior to humans. The benevolent alien Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still
comes on a goodwill mission to Earth to inform people of the planet the other inhabitants
of the galaxy have become interested in Earth after the discovery atomic power, and unless earthlings learn to live peacefully the other planets are obligated to take action and
use force against Earth. The idea is that humans are inherently violent, and only intimidation will subside them, Klaatu explains that his robot Gort is one of many on his planet
made by the aliens not only for protection, but also to control the aliens’ violent tendencies, Gort is a kind of extraneous superego. The people of the Earth are sceptical about
his arrival and engage the military during the first contact, which they immediately spoil
by shooting at Klaatu out of fear. Therefore in The Day the Earth Stood Still science very

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clearly is given a higher rank than military, as Klaatu decides to share his message with
scientists rather than military officials, or even the government - it is a left-wing film.
Flight to Mars gathers American scientists and a former war journalist on a mission to
Mars where they discover a dying civilisation, more technologically advanced and seem-

ͳͺ

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ingly friendly. The council which rules the population (dressed in glaringly red uniforms)
votes on betraying the visitors in order to fly to Earth and exploit it for natural resources
critical to the Martians’ survival. The Martian female with sympathies to the humans, is
named Alita - a clear allusion to Aelita the eponymous Queen of Mars in the 1924 Soviet
film who aids an earthman in overthrowing the despotic government of Mars. The American crew, under order from the Pentagon and close military scrutiny, flies to Mars without hope of coming back due to lack of resources, however the Martians are able to help
them. Like Klaatu, these aliens are technologically prevailing, however they are not depicted as morally superior; the humans, with limited scientific knowledge, are able to explore space due to their unbridled spirit and morally superior utilitarian stance. The point
is clear: the human spirit, with all of the drawbacks associated such as jealousy and disunion, is still preferable to advanced technology without humanity, for example the Martians are an advanced, but dying civilisation; equally, odds of winning the space race are
on the side of the United States, because American principles dominate over conformist
progress-driven Martians - in this case representing the Soviets.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers and It Came from Outer Space share the same
premise of aliens possessing human bodies making them appear robotic and devoid of
individuality, the latter film takes a more liberal approach to alien visitors. From the start
it seems the plot is predictable, aliens will take over the bodies and minds of humans for

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their own gain, however the twist is the aliens are simply trying to make contact without
causing alarm to their physical appearance. The protagonist is not a scientist or soldier,
but an amateur astronomer, writer, and outsider in the town’s life. This outsider, John
Putnam with the aid of schoolteacher Ellen unravel the mystery, the aliens release the

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possessed humans, and use John save themselves from the angry mob just in time to escape. As they fly away John is optimistic that even though we were not ready for them
now, they will be back. It Came from Outer Space engages in the same ideology as The
Day the Earth Stood Still, where the American protagonists learn there is hope for peaceful coexistence with the perceived enemy, it is through staying individuals and not conforming to paranoid fears.33
The real horror in science fiction is dehumanisation and the loss of individuality;
no hyperbolized monsters can scare as much as an unlikely, but believable reality.34 Apart
from engaging in propaganda, science fiction offers an occasion to deal with the fears in
American society, such as nuclear war, regimentation, and militarization, through the lens
of metaphorical events. The “perceived existence of a Communist threat, provided an opportunity to examine problems endemic to American culture,” a country under attack,
even if only ideological, shows its essence including the internal problems.35 Fears of
conformity to corporate forces, and compartmentalisation are explored in films evoking
brainwashing themes in which the collective, usually military and not the individual,
conquer the enemy, while retaining humanity and a limited diversity within the community.36 Science fiction creates an Other to whatever nation it originates in vaguely based on
Edward Said’s binary of the West creating a mythologized, antithetical Orient in order to
 

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33

The Day the Earth Stood Still and It Came From Outer Space “are significant for their instatement of a new and different kind of narrative which either depicts the humanoid alien as a culturally superior figure who is misunderstood by the limited mentality of human culture with its aggressive behavioural norms…” Dannenberg, “Invasion Narratives and the Cold War.” 50.
34
Clarens, Carlos. An Illustrated History of the Horror Film. New York: Capricorn, 1968. 134.
35
Hendershot, Anti-communism and Popular Culture. 4.
36
Limited diversity being a community in which members have different hobbies, jobs, and families. Diversity in the contemporary categories of race, sexuality, and political stance are nonexistent subversive in the 1950s. Conservative views defined by the Red Scare considered deviations
from the norm to be subversive; therefore diversity in the contemporary sense was immediately
unwelcome in right-wing ideology.

ʹͲ

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define itself, the fictional alien gives complete freedom of identity creation through negative dialectic.37 As discussed in the previous section, nuclear testing, as today, was the
subject of speculation, and terrestrial monster films of the 50s and 60s investigate these
fears of unknown negative effects of nuclear fallout. Unlike utopian Soviet films, American studios experiment in post-apocalyptic scenarios, for instance On the Beach (1959)
explicitly states the world has been destroyed by a nuclear war and the last days of Australia are depicted as the people wait for the radioactive cloud to reach them. Similarly,
Battle Beyond the Sun, despite the optimistic outlook of the Soviet version, sets the same
story on post-nuclear war Earth; this and other changes are discussed in the next section.
To reiterate briefly, American science fiction deals with the internal infiltrator was well
as the external invader; the ideological pressure created by science fictional narratives
allows for discovery of American identity and creation of the self as counter to the sub-

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versive and flawed aliens.

 

37

Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon, 1978.

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III. Where No Man Has Gone Before
Soviet science fiction as discussed earlier, did not reach the same levels of popularity as
in the United States until the late 1950s after the sensational achievement of Sputnik in
1957, as well as the political thaw after the Twentieth Congress, which destroyed Stalinist
myths about society.38 Soviet science fiction is utopian and openly attracting young
minds to science, although issues with censorship are pervasive and films like The Sky is
Calling, Toward the Dream, and Planet of Storms reveal the plot to be a fictional story in
order to escape questioning by censorship committees.39 Space invaders or earth-based
monsters do not appear in Soviet films, aliens are generally humanoid and less technologically advanced than humans thereby requiring Soviet rescue missions. Unlike American
films group dynamics also tend to be more positive, romantic relationships are already
developed and lacking the emotional drama associated with courting which may distract
from the utilitarian goal. Although in American films the enemy is a monstrous Other,
there is always an unpleasant character whom the protagonist suffers from who is not radically evil, it may be a hasty military or police officer, or even an admirer for the protagonist’s love interest; this kind of tension from within is not explored in Soviet science fiction.
Utopian and dystopian narratives are important to the genre in both countries,
utopia being a simple fact of the future for Soviet films and not a concern in American

Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

cinema. Simply put, utopia is a side-effect of futuristic settings in Soviet science fiction,
 
38

Marsh, Soviet Fiction Since Stalin. 138.
The Sky is Calling is revealed to be a novel about space exploration read by the author to a pair
of astrophysicists, Toward the Dream is ironically revealed to be a dream, although it is uncertain
which parts are fiction, Planet of Storms does not integrate the fictional aspect in the plot, but
adds in the opening credits that the story is only speculative and the film crew believes in the future achievements of Soviet people who will see Venus for themselves.
39

ʹʹ

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest


“if a civilization had attained a technological level allowing it to travel freely about the
universe, it would necessarily had to have reached an equally high socio-economic structure, i.e. a benevolent communism.”40 Marxist-Leninist communism is future-oriented on
developing into a utopia, where morally and physically perfect people of the Earth coexist under a single government, and everyone shares a high standard of living. The Soviet
people are the chosen ones, set on rescuing the rest of the world from their wrong thinking, this is akin to the colonialist spirit of the ‘white-man’s burden’ which is extrapolated
into fictional narratives in cinema. Soviet people spread Communism with religious vigour with the aim to achieve a global utopia. American films, through engagement with
nuclear downfalls tend to prefer dystopian narratives; even when the threat is subdued
with the help of science and the military, many people have perished in vain. Brainwashing narratives, specifically The Invasion of the Body Snatchers view utopia as mechanistic and achieved through lack of humanity, an outcome presented as clearly undesirable.41
On the contrary Soviet plots disregard dystopia as a Western decadence, and avoid apocalyptic scenarios unless they occur on alien planets in need of rescue from Soviet cosmonauts.42
Space exploration in Soviet films represents the achievement of utopian society,
in a world where science and technology has reached such a high level of development,

Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

tragedy of human existence is dismissed, and uncertainties about life and death, good and

 

40

Glad, John. Extrapolations from Dystopia: A Critical Study of Soviet Science Fiction. Princeton, NJ: Kingston, 1982. 67-8.
41
Biskind, Seeing is Believing. 141.
42
For more on dystopias in Soviet literature see:
Major, Patrick. "Future Perfect? Communist Science Fiction in The Cold War." Across the Blocs:
Cold War Cultural and Social History. Ed. Rana Mitter. London: Frank Cass, 2004. 7196.

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ʹ͵





evil no longer exist.43 To allow for conflict and drive the plot, the stories are set in the
near future where purely technological issues involved in space travel are encountered.
American films regard space exploration as dangerous and unnatural for many years, the
major breakthroughs being the Star Trek television series from 1966 onward, and 2001: A
Space Odyssey (1968), both view space exploration as a pioneering expedition much like
the historical pioneers exploring the Western United States. Space is the origin of monstrous invaders such as the ones discussed in the previous section, or antagonistic intelligent species such as in Angry Red Planet (1959) in which the Martians subject the human
visitors to attacks from vicious beasts resulting in the death of all but two crewmembers,
only to ensure the humans did not return to Mars until they have spiritually evolved. Even
Queen of Blood, remade by commission from American International Pictures using footage from Toward the Dream remakes the story of a journey to Mars to rescue a crashed
landing from a previously undiscovered alien race, into the story about a blood-sucking
female alien who sabotages the crew. Alternatively, space can be dangerous not for the
physical dangers it holds, nor the alien threats, but for the psychological damage it does
to human explorers such as Forbidden Planet (1956) in which a scientist, stranded on a
faraway planet becomes obsessed with alien knowledge, rejects an attempt to be rescued,
and experiences his demise from alien technology. Similarly in Conquest of Space (1955)
a perfectly rational military general on board the first expedition to Mars begins to doubt

Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

man’s role in space, this leads him to lose his mind and act erratically which in turn costs
him his life at the hands of his fellow crewmember and son. Therefore space exploration
is dangerous not only for the real threats posed by unfriendly aliens, but also for the psy 
43

Marsh, Soviet Fiction Since Stalin. 137.

ʹͶ

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest


chological pressures on people who feel they do not belong in space and lead to their own
tragic death
The film Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet and Battle Beyond the Sun edit and redub two ideologically-heavy films for entertainment purposes, in the process replacing
Soviet ideology with American counterparts. Both of the Soviet originals include American characters who are not a radically evil enemy, but clearly mislead by their government and capitalism. The duty of the Soviet crew is not to battle with the Americans, but
to rescue them from physical dangers, and in the process rescue them from their wrong
way of life. The Sky is Calling takes a literal approach to the rescue motif as the American cosmonauts endanger their lives with an irresponsible, competition-driven decision,
while Planet of Storms re-educates the American crew member morally.
To illustrate Soviet utopian ideology and the differences with American ideology,
it is best to briefly summarize the plot of the two films. The Sky is Calling begins with a
writer being shown around a Space Institute, he encounters detailed models of rockets
and space stations which imply the achievements of present day; the rest of the film casts
the same actors playing future versions of themselves as cosmonauts, making a direct
correspondence of today’s scientific advancement and tomorrow’s utopia. Unbeknownst
to the ‘future’ Soviets the permanent Soviet-made space station, called Friendship, serves
as the take-off point for both the Soviet and the American first manned flight to Mars: the

Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

Americans Mr Wird and Mr Clark reveal this information to space station command over
dinner, after they have requested to refuel at the station. Wird confesses he almost told
journalists about the flight, but decided to use the Russian’s practice of succeeding first
and then making a sensation. The Russian cosmonauts reveal they too are flying later in

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest

ʹͷ





the week, and unveil images of their ship, called Motherland. The interplay between the
patriotic name of the Russian ship, and the American Typhoon is clear, a typhoon is an
unbound, destructive force, while the Soviet Motherland tells of a space program dedicated to the people and the utilitarian idea.
Upon discovering the planned Soviet flight, Wird, a character of unspecified profession, comes in contact with their commander, a mysterious Mr. Heartling who bellows
an order to leave immediately in order to beat the Soviets. While the American commander risks the lives of his people for glory, the Soviet cosmonaut Konyev later states
‘no goal is worth a human life’. At the same time Clark has retired to his quarters and
takes out a flask as Konyev comes to talk to him; this unprofessional consumption of alcohol reveals the vices of American astronauts. Konyev offers to help the American on
his mission, which shocks Clark because he believes them to be on two opposing teams.
Konyev argues their duty is not to compete but to enrich humanity, to which Clark sadly
replies that Mr. Heartling would have him behind bars for similar thinking. The perception being fostered in the people is of the Soviet Union as ready and willing to cooperate,
while and the Americans imagined the Space Race which the Soviets are seemingly uninterested in. As Typhoon takes off, the film cuts to scenes of New York and radio announcements of Typhoon’s progress. Already salesmen are advertising Cosmos Cocktail
inspired by the flight and selling land for ‘super-cheap prices’ on Mars. On the contrast

Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

the launch of Motherland is reported in over scenes of Moscow at dawn, peaceful and
idyllic. During the flight, the Soviet ship encounters Sputnik, launched two years prior to
the film, the scene is redubbed to be the Discoverer satellite in Battle Beyond the Sun.
Meanwhile, Typhoon is blown off course and pulled towards the sun; the Russians save

ʹ͸

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest


them but have to make an emergency landing on an asteroid. Konyev points out this experience should be a lesson in pointless racing, while Wird expresses fear they will never
be rescued. They are finally rescued by a pilot who makes the ultimate sacrifice and pilots a pilotless fuel rocket, killing himself with solar radiation in the process, this death is
not grieved for too long, and serves to show the sacrifices the Soviet people are willing to
make for each other, but also to underline the Soviet death necessitated by the Americans’ greed and competitiveness. Wird has not experienced any changes in character,
while Clark upon returning to Earth reveals to his mother “I learned people on Earth are
better than I thought”, clearly meaning the Soviet people he met are better than the American people he knew. Finally once the story returns to present day, Konyev, an engineer,
breaks the fourth wall and calls out to the young generation to conquer space, clarifying
this film to be propaganda aimed at youths.
The American remake Battle Beyond the Sun is produced by American International Pictures, the studio targeting specifically young men, therefore for different reasons
both films aim at the same age-group. Similarly, the film starts with propaganda of scientific advancements, ‘the future is being made behind closed doors,’ and yet again evokes
the idea of space being like the American frontier.44 The actual plot begins with a nuclear
explosion, changing the setting of the film to a post-nuclear Earth split along the equator
into two mega-countries: South Hemis and North Hemis. Most specific similarities to real

Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

countries are edited out, thereby making the conflict purely fiction, Motherland is also
renamed as Mercury. In typical leftist discourse over dinner the two crews discuss future
 
44

The narrator at the beginning of both Battle Beyond the Sun, and Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women reads “one day, maybe not too far distant, audiences will be able to look back on
it in the same spirit with which we view pictures about the first covered wagons crossing the
plains”

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest

ʹ͹





hope of collaboration for scientists, Captain Tarnes (formerly Wird) jokes “ you know
how politicians are, always years behind science”, this proves to be semi-prophetic, as the
Apollo-Soyuz collaboration project succeeded ten years later, in this case the politicians
were behind Hollywood and Mosfilm. The association of South Hemis (America in the
The Sky is Calling) being despotic is also edited: Earth command instruct Typhoon not to
take any unnecessary risks despite the fear of losing the race, and the decision to take off
immediately and risk their lives is solely Captain Tarnes’. Some of the meaning is lost in
this case, the antagonist is not the oppressive capitalist government which harms its people, but the individual military officer. The rescue is almost identical, although scenes of
a phallic and a yonic alien battling each other on the asteroid add to the atmosphere of
real danger in space exploration. The film ends with the rescue and an announcement that
although the programme failed for both Hemis’ real problems were brought into light and
now scientists can collaborate. Needless to say the ostentatious parades welcoming the
cosmonauts home after their mission did not figure into the American version.
Planet of Storms follows many of the same tropes, released on the one-year anniversary of Gagarin’s flight; the film is full of promises of the future. The opening credits
ensure the audience do not take the film seriously, they read
“Scientific evidence about Venus is scarce and contradictory. Only fantasy can
envision the unexplored world. It might turn out to not be as in our film. But we
believe in the future heroic deeds of the Soviet people, who will see the planet of

Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

storms with their own eyes.”
Patriotic loyalty is overwhelming from the very start, and the film continues to explore
the Soviet aspect, using the radio announcer associated with reporting all important Soviet events, Yuri Levitan to announce the flight to Venus, reiterating the belief that the way

ʹͺ

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest


Soviet life is being lived 1960s, will lead to limitless technological ability and utopia.
Both the original version, and the American redubbed Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet
begin the plot with one of the three ships bound for Venus blown up by an asteroid, the
personal tragedy is not felt in either film because the crews have not been introduced, but
it shows the real dangers with space exploration, and in the case of the Soviet film, the
sacrifices which must be made in the name of progress.45 The second remake Voyage to
the Planet of Prehistoric Women decontextualizes the scene to be a previous failed attempt at exploring Venus, thereby removing the tragedy from the current plot.
The American on the flight is cybernetic inventor, Mr. Kern and his robot John,
the International Association requested their presence on the flight to test the new branch
in cosmonautics, implying a world-wide space project. The Soviet crew is sceptical about
the robot, and believe they can achieve more than ‘the hunk of steel.’ John proves his
usefulness throughout the film, but ultimately betrays them due to his faulty programming .The history of Soviet cybernetics is important here, prior to Khrushchev’s secret
speech denouncing Stalin, cybernetics was considered a bourgeois pseudoscience, only
after Stalin’s death, it became a serious scientific branch in the USSR.46 Besides negotiating the American pragmatism of Mr. Kern, the film’s primary focus is the importance
and drawbacks of cybernetics in cosmonautics. John can only be ordered with polite expressions, which reaches an absurd level when two of the crew’s members are in mortal

Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

danger and the robot refuses to reply. He is also vastly exploited by Kern while on the
surface of Venus, scenes of his partner the Soviet geologist Vanya working to extract
 
45

In Planet of Storms Earth control contact the ship to remind them of their duty, while Voyage to
Prehistoric Planet they express condolences.
46
The best overview of Soviet history of cybernetics is Slava Gerovitch’s From Newspeak to
Cyberspeak: A History of Soviet Cybernetics. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2002.

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest

ʹͻ





samples, while Kern rests and whistles a tune as his robot labours at cutting down trees
make the theme of capitalist exploitation of the worker clear. At one point the separated
crew attempt to contact John and ask where his master is, to which he replies “slave ownership is forbidden by the constitution, I am a free machine,” taking personification to an
absurd degree, another way Americans are impractical. Vanya, Kern, and John land on
Venus first, but become blown off the intended landing site, forcing the rest of the crew
to launch a rescue mission. Having lost radio contact, Kern expresses concern they will
never be rescued as the environment on Venus is full of perils and people are prone to
fear and egoism. Vanya, with all the self-righteousness of a Soviet man replies people are
prone to friendship, and their rescue is a matter of time. More of capitalist wrong thinking
is revealed when Vanya shares a discovery about Venusian rock and Kern sceptically
asks if Vanya wants to win a Nobel Prize for contributions to space colonisation, baffled
by this cynical approach, Vanya admits he would do it for nothing if it meant making
people’s lives better. In the end John meets his end as he carries Vanya and Kern across a
river of lava which proves to be too dangerous for his mechanism and his selfpreservation programming kicks in, requiring him to get rid of extra weight caused by
Kern and Vanya. The rest of the crew find them just in time and John is left to melt in the
lava - a tragedy Kern is moved by. John’s demise is Kern’s doing, the robot helped the
pair survive Venusian perils, but in the end it was a fault in programming that led to his

Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

destruction. This is a similar idea or suffering caused by American way of living to The
Sky is Calling in which a Soviet man dies for the American’s irresponsible action,
Critical reception for Planet of Storms is positive, although after the Apollo moon
landing, it virtually disappeared off screens. Government criticism is exemplified by the

͵Ͳ

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest


story of the Minister of Culture, Ekaterina Furtseva pointing out at the premier that Masha, the female cosmonaut left alone on one of the ships in orbit doubting if the rest of the
crew including her lover are alive, should not have been shown crying, because “Soviet
cosmonauts do not have the right to cry.”47 This returns to the utopian aspect, where personal tragedy and philosophical suffering are replaced with technological issues, such is
the science fiction approach to Socialist Realism. Masha’s lines are kept nearly identical
in the American version, but the scenes are refilmed with sultry Faith Domergue as Marsha, to appeal to the male audience. The plot of the film is kept essentially the same, but
slightly simplified; instead of evoking philosophical considerations of life on Venus, the
mysterious voice heard by the crew only leads to speculations of beautiful Venusian
women, and discussions about the usefulness of cybernetics are replaced with witty banter. Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women, a later remake, erases Marsha from the
story, and adds scenes of scantily clad Venusian women to further reduce the film to entertainment.
American International Pictures reused the Soviet films to save money by using
already impressive footage and not risking copyright infringement, a reverse practice is
not found in the Soviet Union. The changes made to the Soviet versions in order to americanise them reveal the aspects that the studio believed to be offensive and unwelcome by
the American audience. While both films aim at the same age group, the Soviet films are

Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

didactic and moralising and endeavour to promote an interest in science in the young
generation, AIP alternatively aims to maximise profit from the large generation of Baby
Boomers.48
 

47

Klushantsev - K Zvezdam. Lennauchfilm, 2000.

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest

͵ͳ





IV. Conclusion
Filmmakers are constantly creating simulacral realities for the world based on the social
and political environment, science fiction being one of the most imaginative of these realities. Soviet science fiction films, exemplified by the Planet of Storms and The Sky is
Calling create a utopian future, viewed as a direct result of the socialist present, while
American films imagine their world endangered by internal subversion and external invasion, representing these fears through paranoically exaggerated monsters, or robotically
apathetic aliens. While American protagonists reflect the ideology of the film depending
on the relationship between scientists and the military, Soviet films exclude the binary
with cosmonauts as the prefect combination of scientist and military officer being protagonists. The engagement with the American way of life is direct, represented by the American characters in need of being reformed out of their faulty, destructive, capitalist thinking, whereas the American engagement with Soviet life is indirect, and represented
through ubiquitous, fearful invasion narratives.
The common roots of Soviet and American science fiction in science fiction literature of the late 19th early 20th century, and the established connection between film and
ideology lend the two countries into easy and useful comparison. Tragically, the country
which aimed at immortality and utopia no longer exists, and the truths uncovered about
life in the Soviet Union reveal that dreams of utopia are as close as it came to achieving it

Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

before collapsing in a period turmoil and uncertainty. The United States fared better in
the past fifty years, however the same paranoid fears of invasion of American values now
manifest themselves in distrust to immigrants and foreign culture. Despite the scientific
inaccuracies and cinematographic limitations, looking at the way in which the two super-

͵ʹ

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest


powers imagined the future reveals many things about their present, which this study
aimed to discover through analysis of domestic science fiction as well as the American

Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

interaction with Soviet science fiction films

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest

͵͵





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‘”—‰ǡƒ† ‘ŠƒƒǤƒ”†—šǤ‡™‘”ǣ‘—–Ž‡†‰‡ǡʹͲͳͳǤ
—†‡Žƒǡƒˆƒ‹ŽǤ̶‘˜‹‡– ‹‡ ‡ ‹ –‹‘ƒ†–Š‡ †‡‘Ž‘‰›‘ˆ‘˜‹‡–‘ ‹‡–›Ǥ̶Science
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ʹͲͲʹǤ‡„ǤŠ––’ǣȀȀ™™™Ǥ–Š’‘•‹–‹‘Ǥ ‘Ȁ–Š‡”‡™‹ŽŽ„‡‘•—”˜‹˜‘”•Ǥ’Š’
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The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest

͵ͷ





Films

Aelita. ‹”Ǥƒ‘˜”‘–ƒœƒ‘˜ǤƒœŠƒ„‘–—†‹‘ǤͳͻʹͶǤ
Battle Beyond the Sun. ‹”Ǥ‹Šƒ‹Žƒ”œŠ—‘˜ƒ†Ž‡•ƒ†”‘œ›”Ǥ†ƒ’–Ǥ ”ƒ ‹•
‘”†‘’’‘ŽƒǤͳͻ͸ʹ
Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the BombǤ‹”Ǥ–ƒŽ‡›
—„”‹ Ǥ‘Ž—„‹ƒ‹ –—”‡•ǡͳͻ͸ͶǤ
Flight to Mars. ‹”Ǥ‡•Ž‡›‡Žƒ†‡”Ǥ‘‘‰”ƒ‹ –—”‡•ǤͳͻͷͳǤ
Invasion of the Body SnatchersǤ‹”Ǥ‘‹‡‰‡ŽǤŽŽ‹‡†”–‹•–•‹ –—”‡•‘”’‘”ƒ–‹‘ǡ
ͳͻͷ͸Ǥ
It Came from Outer Space. ‹”Ǥ ƒ ”‘Ž†Ǥ‹˜‡”•ƒŽ–—†‹‘•Ǥͳͻͷ͵Ǥ
Mechte Navstrechu [Toward the Dream]. ‹”Ǥ‹Šƒ‹Žƒ”œŠ—‘˜ƒ†–ƒ”‘„‡”‹†œ‡Ǥ
†‡••ƒ ‹Ž–—†‹‘Ǥͳͻ͸͵Ǥ
Mission to MoscowǤ‹”Ǥ ‘™ƒ”†‘ ŠǤ†ƒ’–Ǥ‘‹‡‰‡ŽǤƒ”‡””‘•ǡͳͻͶ͵Ǥ
Nebo Zovyet [The Sky Is Calling]Ǥ‹”Ǥ Šƒ‹Žƒ”œŠ—‘˜ƒ†Ž‡•ƒ†”‘œ›”Ǥ‘˜Ǧ
œŠ‡‘ ‹Ž–—†‹‘•ǡͳͻͷͻǤ
Planeta Bur [Planet of Storms], ‹”Ǥƒ˜‡ŽŽ—•Šƒ–•‡˜Ǥ‡‹–—†‹‘‘ˆ‘’—Žƒ” ‹Ǧ
‡ ‡ ‹Ž•ǡͳͻ͸ʹǤ
Queen of BloodǤ‹”Ǥ—”–‹• ƒ””‹‰–‘Ǥ‡”‹ ƒ –‡”ƒ–‹‘ƒŽ‹ –—”‡•ǡͳͻ͸͸Ǥ
Red Nightmare. ‹”Ǥ ‡‘”‰‡ƒ‰‰‡”Ǥƒ”‡””‘•Ǥͳͻ͸ʹ
Them!‹”Ǥ ‘”†‘‘—‰Žƒ•Ǥƒ”‡””‘•ǤǡͳͻͷͶǤ
The Day the Earth Stood Still. ‹”Ǥ‘„‡”–‹•‡ǤʹͲ–Š‡–—”› ‘šǤͳͻͷͳǤ
The Manchurian Candidate. ‹”Ǥ ‘Š ”ƒ‡Š‡‹‡”Ǥ‹–‡†”–‹•–•Ǥͳͻ͸ʹǤ
The Beast of Yucca Flats. ‹”Ǥ‘Ž‡ƒ ”ƒ ‹•Ǥ”‘™ –‡”ƒ–‹‘ƒŽ‹ –—”‡•Ǥͳͻ͸ͳǤ

Copyright © 2013. Diplomica Verlag. All rights reserved.

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric WomenǤ‹”Ǥƒ˜‡ŽŽ—•Šƒ–•‡˜Ǥ†ƒ’–Ǥ‡–‡”‘‰Ǧ
†ƒ‘˜‹ ŠǤ‡”‹ ƒ –‡”ƒ–‹‘ƒŽ‹ –—”‡•ǡͳͻ͸ͺǤ
Voyage to the Prehistoric PlanetǤ‹”Ǥƒ˜‡ŽŽ—•Šƒ–•‡˜Ǥ†ƒ’–Ǥ—”–‹• ƒ””‹‰–‘
ƒ†ƒ˜‡ŽŽ—•Šƒ–•‡˜Ǥ‡”‹ ƒ –‡”ƒ–‹‘ƒŽ‹ –—”‡•ǡͳͻ͸ͷǤ

͵͸

The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest

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The Cold War in Science Fiction: Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s : Soviet and American Science Fiction Films in the 1950s, Diplomica Verlag, 2013. ProQuest