Мечте навстречу (Mechte navstrechu, Towards a Dream) aka Begegnung im All, Dem Wunschtraum Entgegen (Encounter in Space, Towards a Dream) aka A Dream Come True
[ IMDB | Streaming (YouTube I) | Streaming (YouTube II) ]
Runtime: 1:04:00, aspect ratio: 1.85 : 1
YouTube I is Russian with English subtitles; II is with Spanish subtitles. Both are the same print, cropped, but at 1:02:49 long they are likely not edited from the 1:04:00 that’s listed in IMDB. The original aspect ration is 1.85 : 1 and the cropped sides, pan-and-scan, and low-ish quality of the image noticeably detract from the beauty of the film. I had purchased Star Pilot in order to get a widescreen, uncropped version but it ended up just being cropped at the top instead of the sides (wth?!). I may look for this but am not getting my hopes up.
Edited into Queen of Blood (1966).
The German poster above, a nice watercolor illustration, really captures the heart of the film with a modern quality I don’t expect from this period.
- MECHTE NAVSTRECHU [A DREAM COME TRUE, AKA ENCOUNTER IN SPACE] (1963) – a review from rivets on the poster
- Mechte Navstrechu, aka A Dream Come True (USSR, 1963) – a review from Die, Danger, Die, Die, Kill
Some oddities: The narration that is prominent in the opening scenes and used throughout the film distances us from any emotional connection. It reads like a documentary. This is overcome in the tragic final scenes that run without narration and with very little dialog. A beautiful, melancholic ending. There is the heart of a good film in here.
Beyond the electronic soundtrack, reminiscent of the landmark soundtrack for Forbidden Planet (1956), three songs are used in the film and are as equally distancing as the narration. Even allowing for the time period and the country, they are pretty corny.
The story:
Documentary-like introduction of characters with narration. One of the scientists records signals that may be from intelligent life. Narration interrupts throughout.
Song: wistful Russian folk ballade about travelling to other planets.
The song is played on a “crystalphone” and we see it transmitted through the galaxy to be heard by aliens on the planet Centuria. A female scientist thinks it’s beautiful; a male thinks it’s a threat. They ultimately decide to follow it to its source. On Earth, an announcement is made to hundreds of cosmonauts gathered in Gagarin Square about the “enigmatic symphony of radiation” that has been received but not yet decoded. Its intent uncertain.
There is sometimes very oblique dialog that is poetic but at the same time feels like it may be lost in translation, or just of its time. With the poetry, static scenes, and narration, it feels like Tarkovsky’s Mirror (1975) (though I’ve just ordered a set of his films, and so may have Tarkovsky on the brain).
Beautiful shot of the shadows of one Centurian putting a helmet on another as, against electronic music, they approach Mars and prepare to leave the ship. Camaraderie but an absence.
Fear and hope on Earth. The leaders of the space agency discuss whether the SOS should be answered or feared. Benevolence wins out and the spaceship OCEAN is planned to be built on the moon to ultimately fly to Mars and assist the waylaid aliens.
Song: A rousing march about leaving Earth for “the sun” as a personified, female-voiced Earth calls back that she promising not to forget her children.
As the ship is prepared on the moon, the characters enumerated at the beginning of the flick tend to their respective duties. After six months, three of the cosmonauts take off for Mars. On the trip, solar flares drain their energy reserves and as a result they will not have enough to take off after they’ve landed.
Only one alien is found on the ship, dead. Two others missing. A second spaceship takes off from the moon to distribute satellites around Mars in order to search for the missing aliens. It land on Phobos and the two cosmonauts are surprised to find one of the missing aliens there in a separate ship. The Earth ship can’t take off with three passengers so one of the humans must stay behind in order to rescue the alien. It is Andrei, Tanya’s husband.
Song: about navigating spaceships and landing on other planets.
A failed search for the cosmonaut and Centurian after they crash land on Mars near the original alien starship. Repeat of first song with montage of the fated cosmonauts’ life on earth, and back to the first time we see Tanya and Andrei at the docks.
A short, flawed film worth a viewing.