Cosmonaut: Russian Orbits Globe 17 Times (film #135 on Universal Newsreels).[Category: News]

Early 60s newsreel story about a Russian cosmonaut’s circling of the earth, back when the Russians were kicking our butts in the space program. There’s some campy scenes of distressed-looking Americans peering at lurid newspaper headlines about the spaceflight. Then, because the Russians kept everything top secret, we get to see stock footage of what the flight might have, but probably didn’t, look like, culminating in a plastic globe spinning around with a satellite connected to a wire to represent the spacecraft. They might as well have mined the Universal vaults for the old logo with the biplane. Pretty silly for what was supposed to be a straight newsreel.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.