Moscow, 1921. A mysterious wireless message is received by various stations: its text is 'Anta Odeli Uta'. Someone facetiously suggests it has come from Mars, in order to tease Los, an engineer who is obsessed with the idea of going to Mars. This inspires him to daydream about Mars and a strange civilization there. We see Aelita, the queen; Tuskub, the actual ruler; and Ilhoshka, Aelita's mischievous maid. They live in a society where aristocrats rule over slaves who are confined underground and put into cold storage when not required. Los's wife Natasha is pestered by Erlich, a bourgeois playboy before the revolution who is now a dishonest minor official. He uses his connections to steal a large amount of sugar with the intention of selling it on the black market. Los, who has seen Erlich making up to Natasha but has not seen her rejecting him, becomes jealous. Los continues to daydream: he imagines that Aelita has access to a telescope by which she can see people on Earth and has become attracted to him. Spiridnov, an intellectual engineer and friend of Los's, is being quietly swindled by Erlich. He disappears; a would-be detective, Kratsov suspects Spiridnov to be guilty of the theft of the sugar, because of his disappearance. Los's jealousy gets out of control and he shoots Natasha: disguising himself as Spiridnov with a wig, false beard and glasses, he goes into hiding and makes plan to escape to Mars in a rocketship he has been constructing. A friend of his, Gussev, an ex-soldier, agrees to go with him. They take off, not knowing at first that Kratsov has stowed away. Los confuses Kratsov by removing the disguise. They land on Mars. Tuskub orders them killed, ignoring Aelita's pleas for their safety. Kratsov is taken before Tuskub and demands that the soldiers arrest the other two: he is promptly arrested. The chief astronomer comes to Aeilta and tells her where Los's ship has landed; she instructs her maid to kill him. The maid is arrested and sent to the slave's caves - Gussev, who has taken a fancy to her, follows. Aelita and Los meet and fall in love, though Los occasionally sees her as Natasha. They are arrested and sent to the caves. Gussev tells the slaves of his own countries' revolution and foments a revolt, which Aelita takes command of. Tuskub is overthrown and the army sides with Aelita - she commands them to fire on the workers and herd them back to the caves - she intends to rule Mars herself. Disgusted, Los kills Aelita. Suddenly back on Earth, it's clear that all this is a daydream. Erlich is arrested for theft. A poster on a wall advertises a maker of tires - 'Anta Odeli Uta': the wireless message had been an advertisement. Los had not injured or killed Natasha and they make up: he burns his spaceship plans and promises to stop daydreaming.
One of the earliest full-length films about space travel, the most notable part of the film remains its remarkable constructivist Martian sets by Isaac Rabinovich and Victor Simov and costumes designed by Aleksandra Ekster. Their influence can be seen in a number of later films, including the Flash Gordon serials and probably Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Woman in the Moon and in the more recent Liquid Sky. Parts of the plot were loosely adapted for the 1951 filmFlight to Mars. While very popular at first, the film later fell out of favor with the Soviet government and was thus very difficult to see until after the Cold War.
DVD release
The 2004 DVD from Ruscico runs 104 min. and has a musical score based on the music of Scriabin, Stravinsky, and Glazunov.
Reception
In a retrospective on Soviet science fiction film, British director Alex Cox remarking on BFI Southbank's celebration of "Eastern Bloc science fiction" called Aelita "Strangest of these in which the human pastime of kissing creates turmoil on the red planet."
