1956 science fiction, dir. Edward Bernds, Hugh Marlowe, Nancy Gates:
IMDb. The first mission to
Mars hits a cosmic storm, or something like it, and crash-lands on a
strange new world…
This film comes from Allied Artists, which had been Monogram, the
Poverty Row studio that made other Poverty Row studios look lavish.
This film was made partly to spread the cost of costumes and sets for
the earlier film Flight to Mars (1951); that in turn got its
flight-deck sets from the Lippert Pictures Rocketship X-M (1950),
which was rushed out in haste to cozen the public when the rather
higher-budget and better-advertised Destination Moon suffered
production delays. Meanwhile footage of the ship here, and I think the
flight deck set too, would be edited into Queen of Outer Space
(1958, with Zsa Zsa Gabor). If these films all start to look the same,
there can be a reason for it.
But unlike many of those other films, this one doesn't have the Odious
Comic Relief (aka the Astronaut from Brooklyn). It does have Rod
Taylor, one of the many actors who'd turn down the role of James Bond.
It also has a couple of people who'd go on to be quite well-known in
the film world, including the dialogue director Sam Peckinpah.
The majority of this is mostly the same "Earthmen go to a new planet,
meet women, fight someone, take women home" as all those other films.
But here it's mixed with a strong dose of The Time Machine
(apparently a lawsuit was contemplated), because it turns out that
this is Future Earth After the Big War, and humanity has split into
effete weaklings (who live in an underground city) and hairy mutant
savages (on the surface).
Naturally, our heroes won't put up with the last of Proper Humanity
gradually dwindling away, especially since it seems that while future
men have evolved away from violence future women are entirely ready to
leap into the arms of a Real Man.
There's some very light intrigue, and a home-made bazooka, but really
one watches this film for the edifying sight of a grown man trying to
look as if he's being attacked by a giant rubber spider.
I talk about this film further on
Ribbon of Memes.