The Angry Red Planet
| The Angry Red Planet | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Ib Melchior |
| Produced by | Sidney W. Pink Norman Maurer |
| Screenplay by | Sidney W. Pink Ib Melchior |
| Story by | Sidney W. Pink |
| Starring | Gerald Mohr Naura Hayden Jack Kruschen Les Tremayne |
| Music by | Paul Dunlap |
| Cinematography | Stanley Cortez |
| Editing by | Ivan J. Hoffman |
| Distributed by | American International Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 23, 1959 (United States) |
| Running time | 83 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$ 190,000 |
The Angry Red Planet (aka Invasion of Mars and Journey to Planet Four) is a 1959 science fiction film starring Gerald Mohr and directed by Ib Melchior. The director was given only 10 days to shoot the movie and a budget of $200,000 with which to make it.[1]
The movie was made with a CineMagic technique which was applied for all of the scenes on the surface of Mars. This was an attempt to make the hand drawn animations appear as real as the live action footage. Although this process was largely unsuccessful, producer Norman Maurer would attempt the same technique again in The Three Stooges in Orbit.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The first manned flight to Mars, the rocketship MR-1 (for "Mars Rocket 1"), returns to Earth after being thought lost in space. Attempts to raise the crew via radio fail, so a decision is made to land the spacecraft under remote control.
Two survivors are found on board, Dr. Iris Ryan (Naura Hayden, billed as Nora Hayden) and Colonel Tom O'Bannion (Gerald Mohr), the latter's arm covered with a strange alien growth. Racing against time to find a cure for his condition, Dr. Ryan recalls the mission's fateful journey.
After landing on Mars, the crew sets out to explore the planet's surface. They encounter a carnivorous plant which attacks Iris until hacked by O'Bannion's machete. The crew retreats to the safety of their rocket. Their next expedition takes them to a stand of alien trees which is revealed to actually be the limbs of an alien forty-foot bat-rat-spider creature. The creature is ultimately blinded and repelled by Chief Weapons Officer Jacobs's freeze-ray gun. Upon return to their ship, the crew finds that their radio has been blocked. The ship is held by an alien force field, preventing liftoff.
O'Bannion leads the crew to a Martian lake past the bat-rat-spider creature. Using an inflatable raft, the crew rows towards a city with highly advanced architecture. They are stopped on the lake by a huge single-celled creature with a single spinning eye. The creature kills Jacobs, and contact with the creature eats through Colonel O'Bannion's spacesuit, infecting his arm. The survivors escape into the ship and initiate take-off. However, the mission's fourth member, Professor Gettell, dies of a heart attack after take-off. The surviving two crewmembers make it back to Earth. Eventually, the amoebic growth on Colonel O'Bannion's arm is driven out by electric shocks.
Ultimately, Earth's scientists find a message on the final tape-recorded from the MR-1 mission. An alien voice tells the Earthmen that the only reason the MR-1 crew was permitted to live was to deliver Mars' message that Martians have watched Earth's development and believe its technology has outpaced its cultural advancement. The Martians warn the Earth people never to return to their planet, or face the destruction of the Earth as penalty for disregarding their message.
[edit] Cast
- Gerald Mohr as Col. Thomas O'Bannion
- Naura Hayden as Dr. Iris 'Irish' Ryan
- Les Tremayne as Prof. Theodore Gettell
- Jack Kruschen as CWO Sam Jacobs
- Paul Hahn as Maj. Gen. George Treegar
- J. Edward McKinley as Prof. Paul Weiner
- Tom Daly as Dr. Frank Gordon
- Don Lamond as TV Newscaster/Martian Voice
- Edward Innes as Brig. Gen. Alan Prescott
- Gordon Barnes as Maj. Lyman Ross
- Jack Haddock a Lt. Col. Davis
- Brandy Bryan as Nurse Hayes
- Joan Fitzpatrick as Nurse Dixon
- Arline Hunter as Joan
- Alean Hamilton as Joan's Friend
[edit] Release
[edit] Home media
The Angry Red Planet was released by MGM in Region 1 DVD on April 1, 2003.
[edit] Reception
[edit] Critical response
When the film was released, Eugene Archer, film critic for The New York Times, critiqued the film's special effects, writing, "... The Angry Red Planet, solemnly warns its audiences not to go to Mars. Stubborn patrons who ignore the advice will discover that the planet looks like a cardboard illustration from Flash Gordon and is inhabited by carnivorous plants, a giant amoeba and a species resembling a three-eyed green ant."[3]
Recently film critic Bruce Eder, with a lighter touch, praised the film, writing, "The effects are a combination of costuming, model work, and puppets, with Bob Baker's giant (puppet) bat-rat-spider moving off in the distance perhaps the best shot in the movie. Danish-born director/screenwriter Ib Melchior brings a surprisingly light, deft touch to the proceedings, allowing the actors a chance to have fun with their roles -- especially Gerald Mohr, still looking and sounding a bit like Humphrey Bogart, as the stalwart mission commander, and Jack Kruschen as the good-humored technician in the crew -- without losing sight of the adventure and the story line, and meshing it all seamlessly with the special effects-driven sequences."[4]
Critic Glenn Erickson, recently echoed the New York Times review, writing, "Although biographies on both Ib Melchior and Sid Pink would have you believe that The Angry Red Planet is an outer-space classic, it simply isn't so. The direction is woefully flat, and the script is dull even by low-budget standards. Too much of the Earthbound part of the show is comprised of stock footage material, and the sets are cheap and flat-lit. A good music track has animated many a genre picture worse than this one, but The Angry Red Planet gets shortchanged in that department too. A rough music edit at the end makes it seem as if an upbeat cue for the credits was imposed after the final mix."[5]
[edit] References
- ^ The Angry Red Planet at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Wingrove, David. Science Fiction Film Source Book (Longman Group Limited, 1985).
- ^ Archer, Eugene. The New York Times, film review, May 5, 1960. Last accessed: February 21, 2011.
- ^ Eder, Bruce. The Angry Red Planet at AllRovi. Last accessed: February 21, 2011.
- ^ Erickson, Glenn. DVD Savant, film and DVD review, December 8, 2001. Last accessed: February 21, 2011.
[edit] External links
- The Angry Red Planet at the Internet Movie Database
- The Angry Red Planet at the TCM Movie Database
- The Angry Red Planet film trailer at YouTube
