ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Come on, guys! Let's go to Mars!
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Gentlemen, decided to make a follow-up post for the one entitled Sci-Fi Movies About the Planet Venus. I was delighted when I found almost twice as many movies from the Golden Age of Sci-Fi which involved Mars as the ones that involved Venus!

The films involve either a voyage to Mars, visitors from Mars, invaders from Mars, or (in one case) strange messages that may-or-may-not be from Mars, where God is their ruler. (That one is a pretty strange movie, but I like it. )

So, here we go, a whirlwind tour of movies that salute the Red Planet, the God of War, that angry red planet in the sky!

Buckle up again, boys!

This time we're blasting off for Mars!
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Hollywood kicked off the Martian adventures in 1950 when they released a movie about a lunar mission that lacked GPS and went a bit off course when their throttle got stuck and they headed 35 million miles in the wrong direction!

Fortunately the crew of Rocketship X-M (1950) had packed lots of inappropriate stuff for their trip to the Moon which turned out to be just right for a trip to Mars — like oxygen masks, warm clothing, and surplus WWII rifles.

All that aside, the story about a post-apocalyptic civilization on Mars which serves as warning for the war-prone human race tends to justify the logical flaws in this modestly budgeted early effort in the 1950s




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Just one year later, in 1951, Hollywood treated us to another trip to Mars, but this one was more colorful and considerable sexier.
Flight to Mars (1951) featured an advanced civilization with friendly people — including lovely ladies in dresses which pioneered the micro-miniskirts of the early 1970s!




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It also introduced a Chesley Bonestell design for an unused rocket he created for Destination Moon, seen below in a screen shot from the movie and a photo of Brent Gair's beautiful scratch-built model made of wood!




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Also in 1951 we enjoyed the terrifying thrill of a lone alien invader whose home planet was never specifically stated, but newspaper reporter Ned Scott called him "a man from Mars" just once in the movie, and since that mysterious planet is the most likely source for this hideous being, we'll give it a place of honor on our list.

The Thing from Another World (1951) was a One-Man Martian Army who could have turned every cornfield in Kansas into an invasion force from the Red Planet!

If ever there was a 1950s sci-fi movie that was begging for a sequel, this one was it!










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In 1952, sci-fi fans were baffled by a movie that seemed to be about messages from Mars which were received by two scientist, a married couple who struggled to decode mathematical signals which they were convinced were coming from the Red Planet.

The climax of Red Planet Mars (1952) apparently disproved the claims of an evil Ex-Nazi who allegedly faked the messages! But the complex plot left important questions unanswered, so this movie remains highly controversial.










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The year 1953 kept the Red Ball rolling with a Technicolor invasion that made a young boy the centerpiece of story. It plays out like the imaginative childhood fantasies we older fans had after reading great stories in the EC Comics.

Invaders from Mars (1953) was packed the genre staples: a flying saucer, an army of Martian foot soldiers, an alien queen / head inside a glass sphere, a powerful death ray, and a rocket ship that was being build for a Mars mission.










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That same year gave us the ultimate alien invasion, an adaptation of an H.G. Wells novel which was certainly not based on childhood fantasies. The was Earth vs Mars, and winner-take-all! Fortunately the Martians forget to get all the necessary inoculations be "traveling out of the country".

War of the Worlds (1953) rocked the world of science fiction and proved that such movies were for Mom and Dad too, not just the kids.








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Five years into the Golden Age of Science Fiction we got good news and bad news. The good news that the science fiction was still trendy. The bad new was the trend was towards less serious efforts.

Case in point; Devil Girl From Mars (1954) not played for laughs, but it was touch to seriously. The Martian woman in the leather Goth outfit was bad enough, but her trusty walking refrigerator didn't inspired fear and awe — it inspired the idea that Martians wanted their beer brought directly to them.








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By 1955 the sci-fi movies we got were polarized, with five good science fiction movies released out of fifteen total. Some of the five were B-movies who reached exceeded their grasp.

Conquest of Space (1955) was polarized in its own way, with dazzling special effects on the plus side, and a flawed story that proved to be a major setback for producer George Pal.








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Conversely, 1958 treated us to a first-rate B-movie which starts on Mars and pits a terrified space ship crew against It! It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958)

We only get one panning shot of the Martian landscape, but the story includes some interesting dialog that speculates about the origin of the creature.






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If you're in the mood for the Scenic Tour, Angry Red Planet (1960) offers a colorful vacation on the most frequently visited alien world in the solar system. Enjoy the exotic flora and fauna, along with spectacular architecture with an ocean view.










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Several years after the 1950s drew a close we enjoyed one of the best of cinema salutes to the Red Planet, an exciting adventure that not only involved a brave astronaut stranded on an distant world, it also included a humanoid alien and a ruthless race of interstellar slavers!

For several years I showed Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964) to my classes of 4th and 5th graders, and they loved. Several of them cam back to visit me after they'd gone on Middle School, and they were pleased to learn that I was still offering this special form of education.












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So, there you have it. A decade+ of Martin experiences which inspired thousands of kids who grew up in the 1950s —along with four classes of elementary school students in the late 1990s who enjoyed Robinson Crusoe on Mars ever bit as much as the kids did, three decades earlier!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[tmlindsey]

Nebo Zovyot (1959) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebo_Zovyot

I haven't seen this one in full yet.
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"Have you never wondered what it would be like to walk between the ticks and tocks of Time?"

[tmlindsey]

The Day Mars Invaded Earth (1963) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_Mars_Invaded_Earth

Never even heard of this one until today...probably a reason for that

Just finished watching it and I was right :LOL:

There's only a brief opening sequence of a robot probe on the surface of Mars, then the bulk of the "action" takes place in a mansion on Earth.


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"Have you never wondered what it would be like to walk between the ticks and tocks of Time?"

[Gord Green]

Thanks Bud! For a wonderful trip to the Red Planet!

Bravo Sir!!
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.