Nebo Zowet: 1959 A collaboration between Roger Corman and, believe it or not, Francis Ford Coppola brought a re-edited version of this Russian space epic to western screens in 1963.
Released in the U.S. as Battle Beyond the Sun, it is the tale of a race to land on Mars in the year 1997. By this time, wars had boiled the Earth's political factions down to only two parties: North-hemis and South-hemis, who were currently non-warring rivals.
	Wearing suits and ties, Capt. Torrance and Dr. Martin from North-hemis ask to land on a South-hemis space station to repair their ship, the Typhoon. Over dinner with Dr. Gordon, they conceal their shock upon learning South-hemis' Mercury launches for Mars tomorrow.
Against orders, Torrance and Martin blast off to stay ahead of the Mercury. Paul, who was to pilot Mercury is injured by Typhoon's sudden launch. He somehow sustains a head injury without cracking his bubble space helmet, and must be replaced by Craig.
	Soon Mercury is on her way, as a sullen Nancy waves goodbye to Craig and Dr. Gordon. Meanwhile, aboard Typhoon, Capt. Torrance learns their trajectory is changing, and that he and Dr. Martin are being pulled (hate it when that happens) into the sun!
Mars is in Mercury's viewscreen when a distress signal is heard. Craig tries to talk him out of it, but Gordon wants to rescue Torrance and Martin. "The project is for man, and two lives are at stake." Retros are fired, and Project Red Planet is abandoned to save them.
	Things are heating up aboard Typhoon. Meteors from the sun (?) slam into its hull. Mercury docks with the other rocket, and Craig spacewalks to help the North-hemisites evacuate their ship. Everyone is okay, BUT... they used too much fuel to return to the Earth. The End.
Not really. They decide to land on Angkor, which is "in the Martian orbit." It's not clear if they mean Diemos or Phobos, but at least they don't land on that temple in Cambodia. Here they signal South-hemis for a fuel rocket. They toast its arrival with shots of wodka.
	However, the rocket crashes into their guidance antennae with a grand explosion. Back on Earth, Paul is all better, and volunteers to pilot a fuel rocket to the marooned astronauts. When he lands he is eaten by a monster with many bulbous eyes on stalks, tentacles, and a long vertical mouth.
The available print of Nebo Zowet was so dark as to make it impossible to present the freudian space monster here. They didn't hear the rocket land, but they do hear Paul scream. Dask-vedanya, Paul. The four were refueled and heading home immediately.
	After a thankfully uneventful voyage home, they make an interesting landing. Not quite a splashdown, but better than the usual dusty thud into a wheatfield somewhere. Huge crowds cheer their return as they boat from the landing pad to hug their friends & families.
Such is the happy ending to a story with no battles, no bad guys, and no casualties except accident prone Paul. Where is beyond the sun, anyway? At least the film had a monster in it, right? Commendations are due for a project that clearly lost alot in the translation.

The western version was highlighted by a fine musical score borrowed from the TV classic Men Into Space. Too bad they couldn't get William Lundigan instead these Valentino looking Russian guys. And the women! Try harder, people, this is a movie! Other lowlights include the overused footage of a rocket blastoff plainly showing a big red star on the tail fin and railings around the launchpad when it was supposed to depict the liftoff from the barren Martian moon. Still, the recycling of foreign space movies is a very worthwhile idea.

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