The Silent Star

The Silent Star / First Spaceship on Venus
The Silent Star / First Spaceship on Venus
	German theatrical release poster
	German: Der schweigende Stern; Polish: Milcząca Gwiazda
Directed by	Kurt Maetzig
Screenplay by	Kurt Maetzig; J. Barkhauer (uncredited);
Story by	J. Fethke; W. Kohlhasse; G. Reisch; G. Rücker; A. Stenbock-Fermor;
Based on	The Astronauts; by Stanisław Lem
Starring	Günther Simon; Julius Ongewe; Yoko Tani;
Cinematography	Joachim Hasler
Edited by	Lena Neumann
Music by	Andrzej Markowski
Production; companies	Roter Kreis group of DEFA; Filmowe Iluzjon film studio;
Distributed by	Progress Film (East Germany); Crown International Pictures (US);
Release dates	26 February 1960 (East Germany); 7 March 1960 (Poland); 31 October 1962 (United States);
Running time	95 minutes (uncut) ; 79 minutes (English dub);
Countries	East Germany; Poland;
Language	German
Box office	4,375,094 tickets

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.