(1950. Lloyd Bridges, Osa Massen, John Emery, Noah Beery Jr., Morris Ankrum, Hugh O’Brian. Dir. Kurt Neuman. 77 min.). So bad it’s good. From our jaded perspective of 2017 this early 50’s sci-fi adventure - first of its kind post WW 2 - does seem rather silly. But before America’s Mercury program made space flight reality, imaginations ran wild and in this scenario four men and one woman are to be the first humans into space. And they’re going straight to the moon. Orbiting the earth first? That’s for sissies.
Bridges is the Colonel in charge, Berry is a Major who plays the harmonica, and Hugh O’Brian in his first screen role runs around making himself useful. However once underway there’s a problem with the rocket engines. And after they’ve restarted the ship runs into a meteor storm which knocks them off course and heading straight for … Mars. It could happen. Then on Mars things go from bad to worse. Our intrepid space explorers encounter cave Martians wearing furs, fang necklaces and carrying spears. Even though the crew is armed with pistols and thunder sticks, the cave Martians throw rocks and send everybody running back to the rocket where they blast off as fast as they can – a sad day for the US Space Program. Then on the way back to Earth … well you get the picture. NASA may have studied this movie to learn what not to do.
Bridges is the Colonel in charge, Berry is a Major who plays the harmonica, and Hugh O’Brian in his first screen role runs around making himself useful. However once underway there’s a problem with the rocket engines. And after they’ve restarted the ship runs into a meteor storm which knocks them off course and heading straight for … Mars. It could happen. Then on Mars things go from bad to worse. Our intrepid space explorers encounter cave Martians wearing furs, fang necklaces and carrying spears. Even though the crew is armed with pistols and thunder sticks, the cave Martians throw rocks and send everybody running back to the rocket where they blast off as fast as they can – a sad day for the US Space Program. Then on the way back to Earth … well you get the picture. NASA may have studied this movie to learn what not to do.
