Hacker News Reader

Comment by myth_drannon | Hacker News Reader

I just want to add that the same fascination with science and space created cinema masterpieces at least for that time. The special effects used in these 50's and 60's movies influenced Hollywood and helped to create such classics as Stars Wars and Terminator 2.

View on HN

Lucas did see a number of German and Soviet SciFi movies before making Star Wars. Some of the influence in costumes and space ships is quite obvious.

Another very obvious influence on Star Wars, and specifically the attack on the Death Star, was the UK 1955 movie "The Dam Busters" about the real life WW2 Operation Chastise.

There are amusing clips on YouTube of Star Wars visuals and the The Dam Busters audio and vice-versa - the similarity is pretty close.

Edit: Correction 1995 -> 1955

1995? I think you meant 1955 :)

Could you provide examples of the Soviet films that were so influential?

Hollywood directly ripped that one off - Планета бурь by Pavel Klushantsev. It strongly influenced both Spielberg and Lucas, and Cameron too.

Yes, Planet of Storms and in general Klushantsev was the inspiration for Hollywood many directors.

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=h...

Even small things like Chewbacca which is derived from a Russian word for dog - Sobaka came from the same movie Planet of Storms where the dog helps the space explorer. The Terminator 2 final scene where the Arnold goes down in molten lava is taken from Planet of Storm similar scene... etc..

> Hollywood directly ripped that one off - Планета бурь by Pavel Klushantsev.

Really? That's some weird thinking - that Star Wars were 'ripped' from that B-grade movie.

Maybe by our modern standards. But the movie was so revolutionary at that time that it was edited, voice-overed and all the mentions of the Soviet actors removed, fake American names were added in credits. And I think some additional scenes were shot in US (source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planeta_Bur).

Another famous movie was edited by young Francis Ford Coppola (who was also inspired by Soviet cinema) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Beyond_the_Sun

So basically a B-grade movie got cannibalized by low-budget horror director.

That's very far away from your original claim.

Mate, before Planet of the Storms there was no SciFi. This is the hollywood rip off I am telling about - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059887/?ref_=tt_rec_tt This is the original movie - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056352/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 See for yourself.

George Lucas during his 1988 visit to the Soviet Union credited Pavel Klushantsev as the "godfather of the Star Wars"

Do you have any sources for that?

It is even in wikipedia. http://www.shadowlocked.com/201203302484/opinion-features/th... Documentary: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xthyi5_the-star-dreamer-rus... During one of his visits to Russia, Star Wars creator said that his dream was to meet the maestro Klushantsev. Film-industry functionaries just shrugged: "Who's that?" "Klushantsev is the God Father of Star Wars," answered Lucas.

1972's Солярис is a classic. It is far superior to the later American version directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com