Ikarie XB 1

Jindřich Polák, 1962

Film at Filmový přehled

Summary

In 1963 Jindřich Polák expanded his filmography with his sci-fi feature Ikarie XB 1 (Icarus XB 1). Thanks to its motif, the film constitutes a unique piece of Czechoslovak cinematography. The screenplay – on which Pavel Juráček collaborated – is based on Stanisław Lem’s novel Obłok Magellana (The Magellanic Cloud). The humanistic narration set in the year 2163 tells the story of a spaceship with an international crew making a voyage to seek signs of life in the Alpha Centauri star system… The feature won an award at the Trieste International Science Fiction Film Festival and was subsequently sold to many countries including the USA. The American International Pictures company transformed it into the American B-movie Voyage to the End of the Universe with English dubbing and Anglicised names for both the actors and members of the production crew credited in the titles. The feature was also recut (an ideologically-coloured scene that depicts an encounter with a derelict spaceship from the era of capitalism was omitted, and a new ending was created).
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Film data

About a film

Production year 1962
Countries Czechoslovakia
Categories film
Genres adventure, drama, psychological, sci-fi
Form feature
Duration 83 min
Director Jindřich Polák
Cast Zdeněk Štěpánek, Radovan Lukavský, Dana Medřická, Miroslav Macháček, František Smolík
Director of photography Jan Kališ
Screenplay Pavel Juráček, Jindřich Polák
Editor Josef Dobřichovský
Production designer Jan Zázvorka
Music Zdeněk Liška
Sound designer Jaromír Svoboda, Bohumír Brunclík, Jaromír Svoboda