The Scoop:This purports to be the first serious film about the realities of space exploration. Boring and silly is more like it. The crew of the first-ever manned space flight takes off for the moon, led by Lloyd Bridges, John Emery and constantly-condescended-to Osa Massen as (OMG!) the First Girl in Space. Things go really, really wrong and they wind up landing on Mars instead.
What little scientific accuracy that remains quickly goes out the window as the natives of the red planet throw some rocks around, and the rocketship crew is forced to return to Earth. Unfortunately, (spoiler alert!) they don't have enough fuel to land, dying in a fiery crash instead.
And on that cheery note, the film ends. Lots of negatives here (including the cheap sets, rampant sexism and bad science), but on the plus side there is a nifty theremin score.
Best Line:
"When a Texas man says he wants to do something, that's it, period."
Side Note:
Dalton Trumbo, perhaps the most celebrated of the blacklisted screenwriters, was an uncredited cowriter with director Kurt Neumann.
Companion Viewing:
"The Angry Red Planet" (1959).
Links:
IMDb.
1,000 Misspent Hours.
KQEK soundtrack review.
Take a Look:
A few selected scenes -- followed inexplicably by a Three Stooges short:
A musical interpretation:
1 comment:
I only saw this film once, but I will forever remember the moment as they are flying towards the moon (or wherever) and they turn left on a dime like they're turning from Main Street onto 7th Avenue.
Hysterical!
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