This short film deserves a wider airing

[Sylvia Else]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnYZX6z64lo&t=802s

[Max]

On 5/02/2021 9:32 pm, Sylvia Else wrote:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnYZX6z64lo&t=802s

I don't understand what happens in the film. What is the point of it?

[Sylvia Else]

OK

Spoilers!

V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V

Spoilers!

The premise is that prior to the Soviet Union's successful launch into
space of Yuri Gagarin, and subsequent recovery of him alive, there was a
previous launch of another cosmonaut. But that space traveller was
unfortunate enough to come down in the wrong place, and on a farm of a
crazy guy (the father) who always wanted to be a soldier, but was
refused by the army, and had a fixation on war.

The father construed this as some kind of communist invasion, and
abducted the cosmonaut and ultimately killed him. Because they didn't
recover their spacecraft, the Soviets never revealed the attempt to the
world, and later denied rumours about it.

When Yuri Gagarin succeeded, news broadcasts revealed to both father and
son that the father had killed the first man in space. The father buried
the capsule (and probably the body) in a field, and never told anyone
what he had done.

Later, when the father dies and is no longer at risk of imprisonment for
murder, the son, now a middle-aged man, calls the police, and starts
digging in the field. Perhaps he still wasn't entirely sure what he'd
witnessed as a child, but the appearance of CCCP on the capsule
confirmed what he'd remembered - the first man in space wasn't Yuri
Gagarin, but instead was the man that his father had killed in the barn.

Sylvia.

[Peter Jason]

On Sat, 6 Feb 2021 10:41:01 +1100, Sylvia Else <syl...@email.invalid>
wrote:

The Russians would have had tracking equipmt and so contacted Oz
(secretly) to return the Cosmonaut & capsule. I suspect this movie
might be good old Soap.

[Sylvia Else]

Bear in mind that we're talking about 1961. If the capsule came down in
the USA, presumably as a consequence of some malfunction, I think it's
entirely plausible that neither the Soviets nor Uncle Sam would realise.

One thing I think the film gets wrong is the meteoric arrival. It cannot
still be glowing seconds before hitting the ground, and not completely
disintegrate on impact.

Sylvia.

[Falscher Bruce]

On Saturday, February 6, 2021 at 8:49:10 AM UTC+8, Sylvia Else wrote:
>
> One thing I think the film gets wrong is the meteoric arrival. It cannot
> still be glowing seconds before hitting the ground, and not completely
> disintegrate on impact.
>
> Sylvia.

wasn't there another rumour going around that the first cosmonaut before Gagarin got incinerated on re-entry?

[Jeßus]

Yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Cosmonauts

[Computer Nerd Kev]

Sylvia Else <syl...@email.invalid> wrote:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnYZX6z64lo&t=802s

Quite good, though the silhouetted "boy discovers orb" scene and
some of the incidental music was a bit over-done. Maybe that's par
for the course with these short films though - presumably trying to
show off.

Watching it amongst the episides of Alfred Hitchcock Presents from
the 50s that I've been working through lately is an interesting
comparison between short films that have a similar overall format.

The 2015 movie Capsule might be of interest to people who like the
ending of that film, and low-budget stuff:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3108244/

--
__ __
#_ < |\| |< _#

[Sylvia Else]

One thing I liked about it was that it was a complete story. Often short
films just seem to be parts of a story.

Sylvia.

[Computer Nerd Kev]

Sylvia Else <syl...@email.invalid> wrote:
> On 18-Feb-21 9:21 am, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
>> Sylvia Else <syl...@email.invalid> wrote:
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnYZX6z64lo&t=802s
>>
>> Quite good, though the silhouetted "boy discovers orb" scene and
>> some of the incidental music was a bit over-done. Maybe that's par
>> for the course with these short films though - presumably trying to
>> show off.
>>
>> Watching it amongst the episides of Alfred Hitchcock Presents from
>> the 50s that I've been working through lately is an interesting
>> comparison between short films that have a similar overall format.
>

> One thing I liked about it was that it was a complete story.

True.

> Often short films just seem to be parts of a story.

Ah well that's where you need Alfred Hitchcock with some silly
props explaining how everything worked out well (or morally
acceptably) in the end. :)