Ikarie XB 1 (1963) Czechoslovakian science fiction, one of the few serious SF films of that era, and in my opinion the best. A shorter dubbed version with a nonsensical trick ending was released in the U.S. which tainted the western view of this film - happily I remained ignorant of it until about a week ago. While the story is not its strong point, it doesn't consist of the same cliches as almost all other Space Mission movies. It's a 22nd century Space Expedition story in which the first space flight to Alpha Centauri is undertaken, rather episodic and dragging at points with various difficulties and conflicts arising, but the look and feel of it is what makes this so great. Amazing design is intended to look as unlike 20th century technology as possible, and every scene is an amazing pictorial composition. I was saying WOW all the way through it, just from the visual impact and originality of the images. A true classic of SF cinema, which I would rate among the very best. 9.5/10
