American Cinematographer - July 1994 - 80

Near

right: A

lying

sitting position."
of Storms was not Klushantsev's firstchoice project, however. Prior to starting the film,
he'd developed a concept that he passionately be¬
lieved in
a
screenplay for a full-scale artistic film
called The Moonstone. Unfortunately, the film never
got off the launching pad. Klushantsev described
the plot thusly: "In each of three developed coun¬
tries
the U.S., U.S.S.R. and Germany - teams are
secretly preparing for a flight to the moon. The

concept for a

Planet

space station
interior with

upsloping floors
similar to those

-

later seen in
2001: A

Space
Odyssey. The
angled floor
represents the

-

outer curvature

of a classic

countries find out about each other's work and

"donut"-type
space station

agree to

Below:
Klushantsev
instructs the

impressive
here
two
on

-

carjying

actors'-

the set of

Planet of

Storms (1961).

consolidate their priorities for [future] his¬

tory. Whoever brings back [to the Earth] a 'piece of

from Road to
the Stars (1957).

Robot John

or

the moon'
in

special long box, fastened with straps, so that
during the rolling of the barrel, he would be first
right-side up, then upside-down. Two actors
worked in the scene. One was firmly fastened to the
roof in a chair solidly attached to the set. The other
was able to
freely walk or jump on the floor, walls
or
ceiling of the 'cabin.' The camera angle was al¬
ways in the same position and the rotations weren't
observed. Our cosmonaut freely crossed from the
floor to the wall, then to the ceiling and walked
about. For greater effect, the shot was overcranked
and the action seemed even more slow and floating.
In any case, it made the onlooker and the film work¬
ers feel perfectly nauseated."
While Road to the Stars was being edited in
the autumn of 1957, Sputnik was launched. Officials
a

demanded that this event be included in the film

lunar
most

--

a

moonstone

-

will be considered the

pioneers. All three rockets are launched al¬
simultaneously. They land on the moon not

far from each other. But all three have difficulties
upon arrival. For each there is one solution: mutual
aid. They bring back a moonstone found, taken and
delivered by a mutual effort."

as

was added and the
released on Nov. 7, 1957, in Leningrad,
Moscow and Kiev. It eventually circled all five con¬
tinents with great success and a portion of the
project was shown to Americans as part of the CBS
series The 20th Century, hosted by Walter Cronkite.
With this undeniable success, party offi¬
cials finally understood that films about space
travel and exploration could be very positive pro¬
a

propanganda ploy. Footage

film

was

paganda. What was discouraged in the past was
suddenly given an official seal of approval. Road to
the Stars also established Klushantsev as a "first
class producer," allowing him to finally achieve his

lifelong dream "of making artistic films, with
storylines and actors - [moving] into 'big' cinema¬
tography, working in the fantasy genre with space
themes."
He was at last in the position to make a film
like Planet of Storms, which represented the biggest

leap yet for Klushantsev; the project offered oppor¬
tunities to experiment with newer techniques to
improve on illusions such as weightlessness. The
"floating" segments in Storms, for example, didn't

Moonstone, it

pared a special crane with a long narrow boom
which had a rotating fork with hoops at the end,"
he recounted. "During the shots, we positioned
both the actor and the crane so that the actor's body

was important to
should finally stop di¬
viding the world into antagonistic blocs, "that we
should take each other's hand and jointly conquer
the planets as a singular humanity." Unfortunately,
his dream was not shared by the high-level Party
officials in Leningrad: "The opinion of the Party
authorities was that we [shouldn't] cooperate with
anyone in space affairs. [They felt that] our coun¬
try was able to succeed without any help - [that]

covered the

we

use stunt doubles. This time around, Klushantsev
wanted to use well-known performers. "We pre¬

78

In The

American

equipment. He could be in

Cinematographer

a

vertical,

Klushantsev that everyone

could

July 1994

bring back a lunar rock all by ourselves."
American Cinematographer - July 1994

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