Underplayed Gems

Amphibian Man (1961)

Amphibian Man poster
Original title
Человек-амфибия
Directed by
Gennady Kazansky, Vladimir Chebotaryov
Genre
drama film, adventure film, science fiction film, romance film
Country
Soviet Union
Runtime
1h 40m
Rating
6.8 of 10 from 91 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A young man surgically altered to breathe underwater falls in love with a woman on land. He navigates between his ocean home and human society, facing conflict from those who want to exploit him.

romanticwhimsicalmelancholicdreamlikeadventurousvisually lushtenderbittersweet

What happens

Amphibian Man (Russian: Человек-амфибия, translit. Chelovek-amfibiya) is a 1962 Soviet science fiction romance film starring Vladimir Korenev and directed by Vladimir Chebotaryov and Gennadi Kazansky. The film stars Vladimir Korenev and Anastasiya Vertinskaya in the lead roles. The plot is based upon the eponymous 1928 novel by Alexander Beliaev. It focuses on a youth named Ichthyander (Russian: Ихтиандр, Ichtiandr) (from Greek: fish+man) who was surgically altered to survive under the sea. It was given the name of Tarzan des Mers before the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs took exception. The film was the leader of Soviet distribution in 1962, with 65.5 million admissions during its initial run that year. It later sold up to 100 million admissions including re-runs, the highest for a Soviet film up until The Red Snowball Tree (1974). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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