Sounds of The Silent Star: The context, score and thematics of the 1960 film adaptation of Stanisław Lem's novel Astronauci

Our study examines the production context and interrelation of sound design, score and thematics in the feature film adaptation of Stanisław Lem's 1951 novel Astronauci ('Astronauts'). This article analyses the production of the original 1960 version, directed by East German Kurt Maetzig (in dual language versions) as an East German/Polish co-production entitled Der Schweigende Stern/Milcząca Gwiazda (both translating as The Silent Star), with particular regard to its innovative use of sound design and electronic music, and the manner in which these function to create senses of interplanetary difference, alienation and modernity appropriate to the film's cautionary moral-ecological narrative.