The Silent Star

Der schweigende Stern (literal English translation The Silent Star) is a 1960 East German/Polish color science fiction film based on the 1951 science fiction novel The Astronauts by Polish science fiction writer Stanisław Lem. In Poland, the film was known as Milcząca Gwiazda (which translates as The Silent Star). The film was directed by Kurt Maetzig, and stars Günther Simon, Julius Ongewe and Yoko Tani. It was first released in February 1960 by Progress Film in East Germany, running 95 min. It was released in the US on 31 October 1962 retitled First Spaceship on Venus. After finding an ancient, long-buried flight recorder that originally came from a spaceship, apparently from Venus, a human spaceship is dispatched to the Morning star. The crew discovers a long-dead Venusian civilization that had constructed a device intended to destroy all life on Earth prior to invasion. Before they could execute their plan, they perished in a global nuclear war.