A TRIP TO MARS (1918)

In Denmark, Avanti Planetaros returns home after a stint in the navy looking for a new direction for his life. Professor Planetaros, his scientist father, has just the thing: believing that space is the ultimate frontier, he asks his son to lead a private expedition to Mars in the Excelsior, a spaceship he's building with his friend Prof. Krafft. Another scientist, Prof. Dubius, expresses mocking disbelief in the project, especially when Avanti starts talking about building "bridges between planets," but two years later, the ship, looking like a cross between a dirigible and a biplane, is ready. Avanti leads a crew of volunteers into outer space. During the six months of the trip, unrest sets in, with the heavy drinking David Dane about ready to mutiny. Meanwhile on Mars, the Martians, seeing the ship approaching, pull it in with a tractor beam. The Martians seem, to our eyes, like proto-hippies: human looking folks who dress in white robes, eat only fruit, communicate through a "language of the heart" (which the Earthlings hear as their own language) and are non-violent—we see a flashback to their violent past which they have overcome. A misunderstanding leads to a grenade being set off, wounding some Martians, but the Earthlings repent, are dressed in the Robes of Innocence, take part in the Dance of Chastity, and sleep in the Forest of Love. (Like I said, hippies, except for the chastity thing.) Avanti falls for the Martian woman Marya; she tells him to sleep under the Tree of Longing and if he dreams of her, then they are meant to be together. He does and they are. Soon, Prof. Krafft wants to return to Earth to be with his love, Corona, Avanti's sister, and Marya agrees to go to Earth with Avanti. The Martian elder, Marya's father, is ready for something that seems like assisted suicide and goes off to the Cave of Death. The Martians send the Earthlings home with platitudes like, "Space is the mother of life," and "Love is the force you call God." Happy endings for all except Dubius who, when he learns that the Excelsior is returning successfully, tries to be reconciled with Prof. Planetaros but is instead struck by lightning and killed just as the spaceship lands.

This Danish silent movie is strange, unique and quite wonderful. It's been called the first space opera movie but a modern audience would not really recognize it as such. With a distinct lack of explicit science, it's more an adventure fantasy along the lines of the John Carter novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs or the stories of A. Merritt or H. Rider Haggard. The movie was thought lost until 2006 and it has been beautifully restored, showing off imaginative visuals and special effects that, for the era, are quite good. One part of the very Earthlike Martian landscape looks like Shangri-La did in the 1937 LOST HORIZON. The acting may put off today's viewers, as it's very much of the overwrought silent type, but for silent movie fans it's just par for the course. No one really stands out as good or bad; Gunnar Tolnas is heroic enough as Avanti (great name) and Fredrick Jacobsen is a bit over the top as the villain Dubius. The pacifist utopia of Mars, presented just a year after the end of WWI as a necessary move from the "curse of [spilled] blood," might have been quite welcome by audiences; indeed, the film was apparently a big hit. The film’s original Danish title, Himmelskibet, translates as Heaven Ship. I liked this movie quite a bit and recommend it, particularly to silent films buffs. [YouTube]