settima

yurizhelyabuzhsky

Аэлита [Aelita / Aelita: Queen of Mars] (Yakov Protazanov, 1924)

Apr

29

International Astronomy Day

Аэлита (1924)

Queen Aelita (Yuliya Solntseva) peering through her telescope. DPs: Emil Schünemann & Yuri Zhelyabuzhsky.

Like in Enrico Novelli's Un matrimonio interplanetario [A Marriage in the Moon] (1910), interplanetary romance blooms in Аэлита.
Through her #telescope, Queen Aelita spots engineer Los, a handsome Earth man, and he promptly travels to #Mars to be with her. There, Los uncovers an uprising by the Elders against his beloved queen that he vows to – in good proletarian fashion – stomp down.

 

Aelita*'s constructivist stage and costume design had an enormous influence on science fiction, as far as the late 20th century.