In the Dust of the Stars

In the Dust of the Stars (Im Staub der Sterne) (1976)

Runtime: 98 groovy minutes

Directed by: Gottfried Kolditz

Starring: Jana Brejchova, Alfred Struwe, Ekkehard Schall, Milan Beli, Silvia Popovici, Violeta Andrei

From: DEFA

I didn’t quite know what to expect from a 1976 East German/Romanian sci-fi flick, but it wasn’t this! Sure, some Soviet sci-fi from various decades has been viewed & reviewed before, yet something from the 70’s elsewhere behind the Iron Curtain was a mystery.

Turns out, this was incredibly groovy while concurrently addressing at least one philosophical argument. The crew of one planet are on a trek to another planet after hearing a call for help. Those residents on another planet purport that this call was in error and in fact throw a wild party full of scantily-clad women, a buffet, random women naked, and pythons slithering about, but of course the crew is in danger for reasons that won’t be revealed.

I can reveal that this contains the standard groovy 70’s sci-fi sets, hilarious period clothing, the ship’s AI assistant possessing a robotic voice, etc. I was also delighted that filmmakers behind the Iron Curtain knew of such period filmmaking techniques as split screen & mirror images. The inclusion of a 70’s synth score was appreciated by me. However, because the villains were thinly-veiled capitalists, we also got to see…

* Them using breath spray but it was portrayed as a drug they were addicted to. In essence, different-flavored vapes
* The leader’s a random pudgy balding middle-aged dude who randomly dyes what hair he has different colors, just because
* These people also do random interpretive dance, just for the hell of it
* They have pen guns

In the midst of those wacky details, the crew of 4 women and 2 men are led by a woman, who thankfully was not portrayed poorly. Our explorers are tasked with making the right decision concerning a philosophical question, like genre fans would expect in the most austere of science fiction. Yes, at times this did feel like a rather peculiar episode of Star Trek mixed w/ Barbarella!

As methodical as the pacing can be, that didn’t bother me too much & even if it does for you, hopefully the groovy moments can keep your focus from wavering. This is another gem from Deaf Crocodile that delights me-thank goodness some of their offerings are on Eternal Family. What esoteric foreign films they select for release.